


On The Dark Side

by thepalemoonlight



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M, Monster Hunters, Monsters, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 11:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 43,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25469668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepalemoonlight/pseuds/thepalemoonlight
Summary: An AU where Danny's parents also hunt supernatural monsters as well as ghosts.After saving the world, Danny Fenton expects his life to go back to the way it used to be, fighting off ghosts and other monsters as the beloved Danny Phantom. But the monster sightings spike, and Danny and his loved ones start to get overwhelmed.And one night, Danny begins to change. It's impossible to miss, and everyone tries to help him. Except when the world needs him the most, he goes over to the dark side.It's up to his friends and family to get him back, but could Danny be too far gone already?
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jack Fenton & Maddie Fenton, Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley & Sam Manson, Danny Fenton & Valerie Gray, Danny Fenton/Sam Manson, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton
Comments: 21
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

Sam considers herself to be pretty lucky.

Danny no longer has to hide that he’s Danny Phantom, her parents are slowly but surely accepting her and her friends, and she’s dating the boy she’s crushed on for years now.  
All in all, things feel pretty good.

She’d said goodnight to her parents about an hour before, but Sam couldn’t fall asleep. The events of the past few days run through her head once more and she smiles. All of it seems too good to be true.

A few small taps at her window catch her attention and she sits up to see Danny floating at her window. She motions for him to come in and he phases through into the bedroom.

“Hey there,” she greets him. There’s a flash of light and Danny’s gone back to his human form. He shoots her a lovestruck grin.

“Hey,” he returns.

“What brings you over here this late?” She asks, looking at the alarm clock on her nightstand.

“What, I need a reason to come see my girlfriend now?”

Sam smiles. The title is still quite new to her.

“I guess not.”

Danny walks over to the bed, and without another word, Sam pulls the cover back and allows him to climb in beside her.

Now that they’re a couple, they don’t need words to know what the other person wanted. Sam turns so she’s facing Danny and he raises a hand up to stroke her cheek. His touch is soft and gentle, and she can’t get enough of it. It’s such a simple gesture, and yet it has the power to make her swoon every time he does it.

The two of them move closer together and rest their forehead against each other. Sam allows her eyes to close, and as she feels Danny’s arms wrap around her, she begins to drift into unconsciousness.

Danny keeps Sam close and listens to her breathing even out as she falls asleep. Just laying in bed with her feels relaxing, and he doesn’t want to be anywhere else. After everything he and his friends and family went through in the past few days, he needs some alone time with his girlfriend.

Girlfriend. He’s Sam’s boyfriend.

Danny still can’t get over the fact that they’re really a couple now. After crushing on each other for who knows how long everything finally seems to have worked out.  
He couldn’t remember when he first started liking Sam. Maybe he always had, and his feelings just became clearer now. The memory of first meeting Sam runs through his head.

It was seventh grade, the first day of the year. He and Tucker found each other at lunch like they always did. As they walked through the halls to the cafeteria, Danny noticed a new girl.

It wasn’t difficult to spot her. She was the only goth girl in a sea of color, and she had one side of her head shaved. You’d have to try to not notice her. During lunch, Danny noticed the new girl didn’t sit with anyone, and it made him feel bad for her. Tucker caught him staring and nudged him.

“You should go talk to her.”

“What?”

“Whoever you’re staring at. Just talk to her.”

“I don’t know—she’s new and I don’t think—”

“A new girl? Where?” Tucker perked up with a grin on his face as he scanned the room. Danny pointed the girl out to him and Tucker paused.

“Why were you staring at her?”

“She’s all alone. I don’t know, I guess I just feel bad for her.”

Tucker shrugged.

“Well, I still think you should go talk to her.”

“But I don’t—”

Before he could finish, Tucker pushed him out of his seat and towards the new girl. Danny paused and glanced back at his friend before deciding to continue. He felt nervous the entire way over.

The girl glanced up at him as he approached and he finally noticed her eyeliner. It looked good, but also intimidating. When their gazes met, he realized it was what she wanted.

“Um, hi. My name’s Danny.”

She looked him over for a second before responding.

“Sam Manson.”

“So, I noticed you were by yourself, and I was wondering if…” Danny paused when he saw the way she looked up at him, but continued nonetheless, “...if you’d like to come sit with me and my friend?”

Sam looked like she was considering her options, and for a second Danny thought that she’d tell him no. Just as she opened his mouth to say something, she spoke.

“Alright.”

He paused as a feeling of joy spread through him.

“Great!” 

Sam stood and Danny guided her back to the table Tucker sat at.

Danny smiles at the memory and looks down at Sam. Even asleep and without her makeup, she still looks beautiful. 

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he shifts a bit to grab it. A text from Jazz

where r u?

He types back a quick response.

@ Sam’s. spending the night

Once he gets a text back saying goodnight, he shuts his phone off and turns his attention back to Sam. Her even breathing lulls him to sleep, and he drifts off with a smile on his face. 

* * *

A week later, and there’s still more work to be done. Of course, when ghosts and other supernatural creatures run around the world causing chaos all the time, the world is never really safe.

The Fentons meet with Sam, Tucker, and Valerie in the FentonWorks laboratory. Sam could tell that Danny felt more relaxed and free. Since he doesn’t need to hide his identity from his parents anymore, she imagines a weight was lifted off of his shoulders.

On the enormous computer screen that covers one of the lab walls is a map of the world color-coded to ghost and monster activity. That’s the reason they’re all here; to continue hunting them down and make the world a safer place.

“Listen up, Fenton Monster Hunters,” Jack addresses them. Despite the protests from everyone else, he continues to refer to them by the title.

“It’s only been a week since Danny and the ghosts saved the world, but our work is never done. Monsters have already made a comeback in Amity Park, and we have to take action immediately,” Maddie tells them.

“Jazz, you’ll join me and your mother on patrol. We’ll take care of any vampires, werewolves, or ghouls we come across.”

“Valerie, you circle the city from above and focus on any witches and sirens that are roaming about.”

Valerie nods.

“And you three,” Jack points to Danny, Tucker, and Sam, “you’re responsible for getting the ghosts back to the ghost zone.”

“I think we can handle that,” Danny smirks.

“I know you can, sweetie,” Maddie says, reaching over to pinch his cheek. The others snicker a bit but stop when he glares at them.

“Alright, teams, move out!”

Danny grabs Sam and Tucker and phases through FentonWorks, waiting at the top. When the three of them see Valerie and the assault vehicle heading off, they do the same. Tucker uses his PDA to track the nearest ghost.

“Looks like there’s a ghost terrorizing the Nasty Burger,” he warns. Danny tightens his grip on the two of them and speeds over to the restaurant. 

They land and see Ember on top of the building. A large crowd of Amity Park residents chant her name and it fuels Ember. Her ponytail burns brighter and grows bigger. But it’s clear that the ghost still wants more: she wants the world to say her name.

“This again?” Sam rolls her eyes as she puts the Fenton Earphones in, as do the boys. They can’t be too careful; they don’t want to fall under another spell of hers.

“You know how musicians are,” Tucker jokes.

They soon get Ember’s attention. She turns and notices the three of them and a calculating smile makes its way onto her face.

“People of Amity Park, tell me who you love!”

“Ember McLain! Ember McLain!” The crowd chants her name in a rhythmic trance, and without provocation they rush towards the three of them. Danny grabs Sam and Tucker and brings them up to the roof, getting on the same level as the ghost.

“How adorable, the happy couple and the third wheel trying to upstage me again!”

“Tucker isn’t our third wheel!” Danny protests.

Ember looks between Danny and Sam when she notices they don’t deny being a couple like they normally do.

“Wait, the two of you are actually together now?”

Tucker interrupts.

“Another ghost at Caspar!”

Danny glances back at Ember and with a wave of his hand, freezes her to the spot where she stands.

“Sorry for the quick fight, but your fifteen minutes of fame are up.”

Ember loses the shocked expression and strums on her guitar, sending a soundwave towards them. Danny shoots a wave of green energy at it and shields Sam and Tucker from the collision. As Ember gets disoriented, Sam opens the Fenton thermos, and the ghost is sucked inside. When Sam puts the cap back on, the once hypnotized crowd returns to normal, though they complain of headaches and a loss of memory.

“It’s good to see everything’s back to normal,” Sam says, smiling. 

Danny and Tucker nod in agreement, then the ghost boy grabs them both and flies off.

“Some things just never change.”


	2. Chapter 2

Sam’s really starting to hate hunting monsters. Her legs are starting to burn from chasing after whatever caught onto Valerie’s board, and her phone got busted in the fight, so she couldn’t just call for a ride.

She stops on a corner and places her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Tucker catches up and pants as he stops beside her.

“I wish Danny...would circle...back for us,” he says in between breaths.

Sam nods in agreement.

“Do you even know what’s chasing Valerie?” She asks.

Tucker shakes his head. Sam groans and stands up, leaning against the side of a building.

“I love Danny, but I’m starting to get kinda sick of not being able to keep up.”

“Me too.”

They stay on the corner until they catch their breaths, then continue on in the direction they saw Valerie fly in. Tucker checks his PDA and tries to pinpoint her location.

“It says that Valerie and Danny are heading our way,” he warns. 

The two of them reach to their belt for one of the many weapons they were given, but find that they don’t need them. Danny and Valerie are flying peacefully, no monster in sight.

“What happened to the monster?” Tucker asks.

“It was a witch. We managed to fight it off and keep it distracted.”

“And then my parents pulled up, and they helped us to capture it,” Danny explains.

“Glad we could be of help.”

“Sorry we had to leave the two of you back there, but we had to take care of the monster.” Valerie retracts her board and throws an arm around Tucker’s shoulders.

“Next time I won’t leave you behind,” Danny promises. He takes Sam’s hand in his and brings her close.

“Well, I guess I can’t stay mad at you.”

Tucker and Valerie groan and make a gesture of looking away when Sam and Danny kiss. The couple ignores the others.

“If there’s not any more monsters or ghosts running around, let’s go home.”

Just a few days later, more monsters began causing trouble.

A werewolf here. A group of demons there. The occasional banshee. Danny and his friends were kept on their toes.

Then, in between a flurry of ghosts resurfacing, a vampire began strolling around Amity Park.

That was a new one for them.

“Before you all head out, take these garlic bombs,” Maddie instructed, handing out small metallic bombs. “They’re pretty self-explanatory. If the vampire comes near you, use these bombs to incapacitate it. That is, if the UV lights don’t work against it.”

“Jazz, you’re coming with me and your mother.”

“As always,” the red-head comments.

“You four, stick together. You’ll have a better chance of fending the vampire off that way. Now head off!”

The two teams left FentonWorks, the teenagers meeting on the roof. Valerie allows Tucker to ride with her while Sam flies with Danny. They both tried to focus on the mission, but occasional glances and flirts made their way in.

“We found the vampire!”

“It looks like your family got there first, but we can catch up!” Tucker calls to them.

“Where is it?”

“At the edge of town, near the woods!”

And with that, they raced to the forest. They arrived a few minutes later. Danny and Valerie landed, allowing Sam and Tucker to get on the ground. Valerie did a scan of the area, but her tech came up with nothing.

“This isn’t right.”

“What?”

“My suit’s saying there’s no vampire here.”

“That’s impossible, these are the coordinates my PDA picked up.”

Tucker took out his PDA and double-checked the coordinates. His face twisted into that of confusion and triple-checked.

“But—but I did it all—”

Before he can finish, they become restrained, all except for Danny. Over the earbuds, they hear his family find the vampire and take it down with ease. Confusion sets over the group and Danny tries to untie them. As soon as he gets close, shields form around his friends, and he’s unable to free them.

“What’s going on?” Sam asks, looking at the restraints.

“They look like—” Tucker pauses mid-sentence.

“Like what?”

“Like magic.”

And just like that, a witch appears from beyond the treeline.

“Your friend’s right.”

Danny turns around and sees the witch in question. She has a dark hood pulled over her eyes so only the lower half of her face is visible. A calculating smile rests on her face and her hand begins to glow with the same glow that restrains his friends. She makes a swift motion, and restraints head towards the ghost boy.

On instinct, Danny creates a shield and the restraints fade away. The smile on her face fades a bit.

“Shame.”

Another wave of her hand, and Tucker, Sam, and Valerie disappear. There’s nothing Danny can do to save them from her.

“No!”

He rushes towards the place where his friends just stood, but there’s no trace of them.

_How did I let this happen?_

Danny grits his teeth and hits the nearest tree when he pieces together what happened: the coordinates that Tucker received were fake. The witch probably did that herself to get them alone. Whatever she wanted, it had to do with them. Or more specifically, Danny.

Anger bubbles up until it’s the only thing he can feel. He needs to get his friends back, and he will.

A note appears and it’s as if it read his mind. He grabs it and reads the scrawled words.

_Ghost boy,_

_If you want your friends back, head to the abandoned manor at the edge of the city. Come alone or you’ll never see your friends again._

He flies off without a second thought.

It doesn’t take long for him to arrive at the manor. It’s difficult to miss. He turns intangible and phases inside.

“Alright, I’m here! The ghost boy! Now where are my friends?”

The witch appears behind him.

“Hello, Ghost Boy.”

He turns around and his fists begin to glow green.

“The name’s actually Danny Phantom. Not that it’ll matter once I put you back where you belong.”

The witch smirks.

“I’m afraid you’ll be coming with me, Phantom.”

She waves her hand and lets his friends go. For a second, they’re safe. Then another wave of her hand makes them disappear.

“Where are they?!”

“They’re safe. You should really worry about yourself.”

Another wave and more restraints come at him. He blocks them again with a ghost ray.

“Why should I?”

“The Monster King has taken a special interest in you. He believes you could be of some use to his people.”

“All of this was just a ruse to get me alone and back to your world so your king can use me,” Danny realizes.

“Precisely,” she says evenly. It’s almost eerie how calm and collected she is.

Danny grits his teeth and blocks another attack from her. Without knowing where the others are, he can’t just ask them for help. Do they even know where he is?

“I’d hate to be you when you tell your king that I’m not going anywhere.”

“Damn right you’re not.”

Danny looks at the door when a voice cuts through the air, joy coursing through him when he sees it’s Sam. And she brought reinforcements.

“Your king wants me so bad? Tell him to come and get me,” he taunts.

As the witch raises her hand, he creates a shield around him and his family. As soon as he takes the shield down, his parents move in and quickly disable her powers. Something about a frequency blocker that can block her magic, he didn’t really pay attention.

It doesn’t matter; soon enough the witch is detained without being able to use her powers and his parents offer to take her off of their hands.

Danny flies down to the floor and changes back to Danny Fenton. He should feel good about putting another creature away, but he doesn’t.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when he feels Sam’s hand slip into his own. He manages a smile as he glances at her and squeezes it.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she returns.

“What was that all about?” Tucker asks.

“Yeah, one second we’re tied up and teleported to this place, and then we’re in town and free. Wanna explain, Fenton?” Valerie cocks an eyebrow and looks at him.

“The Monster King knows about me. He thinks that I can be useful to him and his subjects. Kidnapping you guys was just a ruse so that witch could get me alone and take me back to him.”

“So what do we do about that?” Jazz asks. It’s clear she’d been listening in, but Danny can’t find it in him to care.

“I’ll have to lay low for a while, be Danny Fenton instead of Danny Phantom. For a bit, anyway.”

“I like the sound of that,” Sam says, kissing his cheek.

Blood rushes to his face, and suddenly he realizes that maybe laying low won’t be so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3

“Why couldn’t your parents do this themselves? They’re the monster hunting experts,” Tucker complains.

“Because something came up at the lab. I think another invention went wrong.”

Tucker groans and leans against the window of the assault vehicle. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were instructed to track some of various monsters and ghosts roaming around, the only rule being that they stay in the vehicle. Danny’s parents instructed him not to go ghost, and he’s obliging.

“This is so boring. We could spend the night doing anything else.”

“I know, but we promised to be on the lookout for anything. Jazz and Valerie will take care of it.”

“Man, laying low is so unexciting.”

“Agree to disagree,” Sam interjects. “Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and let someone else take care of the monsters and ghosts.”

Of course she feels that way; since the three of them started to lay low, she and Danny had been going on more dates and spending a lot of time together.  
Tucker rolls his eyes and pulls out his PDA.

“I need to get a girlfriend.”

Danny and Sam ignore him, holding hands and interlocking their fingers. He has to admit, just being able to be a regular teenager and spend time with his girlfriend and best friend feels good.

Seconds later the tracker in the vehicle goes off and they all lean forward. Tucker taps his PDA with urgency.

“I sent the coordinates to Jazz and Valerie. They should show up on the tracker in a few minutes.”

They watch the screen, and see two dots, representing the two girls, show up. The dots get closer to the monsters, but then they start to move. Tucker taps his PDA again and tries to update them as fast as he can.

“They’re never gonna catch up to the monsters!”

“And we’ll lose them too if we don’t move!”

“Okay, okay, just let me turn on the autopilot!” Danny fumbles for a second, trying to find the button.

“Shit,” he curses. 

Then he finds it and the vehicle comes to life. He taps the screen and commands it to follow the monsters. The three of them rush to put their seatbelts on as the vehicle speeds onto the road.

“How’s the autopilot _worse_ than your dad?” Sam asks. Her hand held onto Danny’s.

“I don’t know!”

Jazz and Valerie come into view in the sky and without hesitation they follow the assault RV.

Danny keeps his hands near the steering wheel, despite not being able or old enough to drive. The red dots on the screen, which represent monsters, grew closer to the center. They’re getting close.

Just before the red dots reach the center, Danny presses the button to turn the autopilot off. He slams on the brakes and grips the steering wheel. Jazz and Valerie fly past them and engage in a fight with the monster.

Danny presses another button and a shield appears around the vehicle.

“Are you sure that’s enough to keep it out?” Tucker asks.

“Positive. Watch.” 

Danny points to the fight. Jazz shoots the monster into the shield and it tazes the monster. It falls to the ground, limp and unmoving.

“Is it dead?”

“I...don’t know.”

The monster moves and Valerie captures it. Danny turns off the shield and she throws the monster into the trunk of the vehicle. 

“Is that safe?” 

“Definitely. My parents make everything monster-proof. It isn’t getting out.”

Jazz knocks on the door and Danny opens it.

“Thanks for the help, little brother. But I think I should be the one that drives us back.”

“For once, I agree with you,” Danny smiles.

“Tucker, why don’t you join Valerie on the way back to FentonWorks?”

“If you drive the way the autopilot does, consider me gone.” Tucker gets out and Valerie allows him to climb onto her board. He wraps his arms around her and she takes off.  
Danny and Sam move over, hands still interlocked. Jazz climbs into the driver’s seat and drives them back across town. She says nothing and lets the two of them have their moment.

They arrive back home a few minutes later. The three of them exit the vehicle and the Fentons shoo everyone away from it. 

“Careful, everyone! This is a very dangerous creature, we must use the utmost care when transferring it to the cell.”

Danny stands by the cell and opens the door. His parents, dressed to the nines in their protective gear, approach the trunk of the assault RV. They grab the monster and rush it into the cell, and once it’s inside, Danny slams the door shut.

“That’s the ‘utmost care’ they use?” Sam whispers to Danny when he joins her again. He fights back a laugh.

“I know, right? At least they’re effective.”

“Alright, now it’s time for observation. Thanks for the help, kids!”

They all turn to leave, and Jazz and Valerie make it out the door. But the other three glance at the monster, and they pause.

The monster they caught is a werewolf, but in mid-transformation. Its form doesn’t resemble a wolf nor a human; it’s covered in patches of fur, and in between the patches are red, blotchy skin. They can hear its breathing, and it sounds labored. Like just existing this way takes effort.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker glance at one another. They don’t need to speak to know what they’re all thinking:

They feel bad for the werewolf.

Then they turn and head upstairs. 

* * *

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in between my human and ghost forms,” Danny says.

“I’d think that would be pretty painful. I hope you never have to find out what that’s like.”

“Me too, Tucker.”

The boys continue on to the street corner, where Sam greets them. Danny kisses her cheek and takes her hand and gets in between her and Tucker. Then they continue on to FentonWorks.

“What did I miss?” Sam asks.

“Danny and I were talking about that werewolf we caught the other day.”

“Ever since I got a good look at it, I’ve been feeling bad. Having to be in that in-between state…I don’t want to know what that’s like.”

“I get what you guys mean. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. But hey, maybe your folks helped change them back into the human or wolf form?”

“I hope they did. They may hunt monsters, but they’re not _that_ cruel. At least, I don’t think they are.”

They reach the steps of FentonWorks and head inside. As usual, they head to Danny’s room, keeping the door open a crack. Since Danny and Sam officially started dating, his parents insist on making sure they don’t do anything _too_ romantic.

They try to focus on anything else, but the thought of the werewolf invades their minds and they can’t go without knowing.

“Guys, I’m going down to the lab. Wanna join me?”

“Duh.”

“Of course.”

He takes their hands and goes intangible, flying down to the lab. He doesn’t become tangible just yet; he wants to make sure his parents don’t find them near the cage. He knew they’d freak out and overreact.

They arrive just as Maddie and Jack walk upstairs. Danny goes tangible again and lets go of Sam and Tucker.

A snarl catches their attention and they look to see a large brown wolf in the cage. Its fur is standing on end and it’s baring its teeth at them. It takes a second for them to remember it’s in a cage and they’re in no real danger. Not yet, anyway.

“Looks like your folks managed to help it out of the in-between area,” Sam comments. She steps closer to the cage and looks at it.

Meanwhile Danny and Tucker go over to the monitors and examine what’s on the screens.

“There must be a ton of information here just on this werewolf,” Tucker says, almost in awe.

“There’s so much here that I don’t even know, and I grew up with their monster hunting obsession.”

“So why don’t you copy the information so you can go over it when we meet another werewolf?”

The boys look over at Sam.

“That’s a great idea, actually. I’ll start copying it to my PDA.”

“You know, it’s times like these when I’m glad you’re a techno-geek.”

“Me too, man.”

Tucker plugs his PDA into the monitor, and after a couple of seconds of tapping, he begins to copy the notes.

Danny walks back over to Sam, taking her hand. The wolf paces back and forth in the cage. It sometimes growls at them, but its interest in them has diminished.

Footsteps come from the staircase and the three teenagers start to panic. Danny turns intangible and flies over to Tucker. He’s about to head back to his room but Tucker stops him.

“My PDA isn’t done copying the notes yet!”

They leave the PDA alone and he pulls Tucker into the wall. Maddie and Jack walk in, and luckily they don’t seem to notice the small device by the monitor. At least until it dings.  
Tucker reaches for it and unplugs it, and once it’s in his hands, Danny flies all of them up to his room again.

“That was too close of a call,” Sam says once they’re tangible.

“You’re telling me. But at least we have the notes about the werewolf. With any luck, they should help us understand how to fight off any werewolves we come across now,” Tucker explains, going through the notes.

“Good. We can use all the help we can get.”


	4. Chapter 4

The bell rings and the three friends make their way to their lockers. Danny meets up with Sam first and they go to meet Tucker, hand in hand. They get some looks from their classmates but they don’t care.

“Another day of laying low?” Tucker asks when they arrive.

“Looks like it.”

“I just want to make sure that you guys are safe. We can’t go out hunting ghosts and monsters if they’re still looking for us.”

It’s difficult to argue with that. The bell rings and they join the rest of the student body in getting to their last class of the day. The three of them were at the door and about to walk in when Danny’s ghost sense goes off.

“Guys, we have company.”

Sam and Tucker turn away from the door as Danny goes ghost and they inspect the now empty hallway. So far nothing, but they know better. Tucker checks his PDA for any ghosts in the area.

“I can’t tell where the ghost is,” he tells them.

“What do you mean?”

“My PDA’s picking up the ghost energy but it can’t locate where it is!”

“How do you fix that?” Sam asks.

“I don’t know, it’s never done this before!”

“It’s fine, guys, let’s just focus on finding the ghost,” Danny interrupts. The two follow his lead and follow him as he floats down the hallway.

They stop at their lockers and grab some Fenton-Thermoses before continuing on. A laugh echoes through the hall before the ghost makes himself visible.

“Hello, ghost boy.”

“Skulker, you managed to escape the ghost zone. I thought you were too stupid to do that.”

“Enough insult, ghost boy! Now your pelt will hang on my wall.”

“Okay, gross!” 

“Dude, you’ve got problems,” Tucker criticizes, his face twisted into that of disgust.

Skulker aims his blaster at Danny but he goes intangible. Some students gather in the doorways of the classroom but they stay inside. They know better than to get in the middle of a ghost fight.

Danny and Skulker repeated the attacks a few times, Danny throwing some energy blasts to the other ghost. Tucker and Sam stay in sight of the fight and Skulker smirks as he gets an idea.

“Maybe I can’t hurt you,” he says, flying over to Tucker and Sam, “but I can hurt them!”

He grabs the two of them and goes intangible, heading up to the roof of the school. Danny looks on with wide eyes before following them up.

He reaches the roof of the school and sees Skulker, still gripping his friends. Sam and Tucker struggle against him and try to reach the Fenton-Thermos.

“Let them go, Skulker!”

“Gladly.”

He floats backward so he’s in the air, dangling Sam and Tucker. They quit struggling against him and try to keep from falling.

“Wait!” Danny calls to him.

Skulker smirks.'  
“If you attack me, I’ll drop them. Turn human again, and I’ll set them down unharmed.”

Danny doesn’t want to listen to Skulker; he’d stop at nothing to hunt and capture him. But his best friend's lives are in danger, and he can’t let them get hurt. He knows they’re gonna tell him otherwise, but he has to listen to the ghost.

He’s about to speak and turn human again when he spots Valerie behind Skulker. She signals that she’ll catch Sam and Tucker and he grins.

“Yeah, because you always do what you promise, right? You’d say whatever you want to hunt me down. I’m not that dumb.”

“You’re putting your friend’s lives at risk to spite me?”

“No, but I’m not falling for your tricks. They’ll be just fine, even if you let them go.”

Danny looks at Sam and Tucker. They have looks of panic on their faces and they don’t seem to believe what he’s said. Danny winks at them and they seem to relax a bit.

“Oh really? Why don’t we see about that?”

Skulker lets go of their wrists and they start to fall, at least until Valerie flies close and catches them. Skulker notices and gets distracted.

Perfect.

Danny shoots a blast of ghost energy at Skulker and sends him flying. He flies over, being careful of any attacks. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Valerie setting Tucker and Sam on the ground. He feels better knowing that they’re out of danger.

“Clever boy.”

Danny dodges another blast from him and lands a punch on him. He reaches for the thermos but it’s not there. He turns intangible and searches for it. Then he spots two of them on the ground.

They must’ve dropped when Sam and Tucker were being dangled in the air. He goes tangible again and flies down to get one. Sam grabs a thermos and throws it up to him and he catches it. He turns in time to see Skulker flying towards him. He opens the thermos and traps the ghost inside. He lands and goes human.

“Guess that’s the end of laying low,” Danny says, looking at Sam and Tucker.

“Hey, we can all take care of ourselves. And I’m kinda glad to be fighting ghosts again.”

“Yeah! We’ll show that Monster King who he’s messing with,” Tucker agrees.

Danny smiles.

“If you guys insist.”

Sam takes his hand again and they walk back into the school. Danny throws the thermos into his locker and they head to class.

In the thermos, Skulker mulls over what he heard. Who’s this Monster King? Why were they laying low? He’d have to look into more once he’s in the Ghost Zone.


	5. Chapter 5

It’s times like these when Tucker hates that he’s friends with Danny.

He’s currently being chased by a werewolf, and the wolf is gaining on him. He curses himself for leaving the wolfsbane at home; he thought they were hunting ghosts again tonight.

“Danny, where are you guys?!”

“Sam’s on her way now! I’m still kinda caught up with this ghost!”

“I’ve got your coordinates and I’m almost there!” Sam tells him.

Tucker turns a corner and continues his run. He’s a little surprised that the wolf is still so fixated on him; he’d been running through the city for a while and normally it would start chasing something else.

“Sam, any second now!”

“I’m trying to get there, but it’s hard to steer this thing when it’s on autopilot!”

“We really need to get our learner’s permits,” Tucker mumbles.

Then the RV comes into sight and he picks up the pace. Sam stops the RV and waits for Tucker, leaning out of the door with the wolfsbane bomb in her hand. He nears the RV, and then he trips.

He doesn’t have enough time to get up and run to the RV before the werewolf is on top of him. In an instant it’s jaws clamp down on his shoulder and pain shoots through him.

“Tucker!”

Sam throws the wolfsbane bomb and it explodes, getting the wolf away from her friend. Before it can run away she launches the net and captures it. While the RV drags the wolf into the built-in cage she gets out and runs to Tucker.

“That’s really bad,” she mutters. She leans down and helps him up, getting him into the vehicle.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, Tucker.” Sam presses a button and a picture of the Fentons appear on the screen. “Tucker got bitten by a werewolf!”

Their eyes widen and Jack stays in view of the screen while Maddie moves to get something ready.

“How’s he looking?”

Sam moves the screen so he can see Tucker. He’s already sweating and looks generally unwell, and blood from the wound stains his shoulder. She presses a few more buttons with urgency and the RV starts up again with the destination being FentonWorks.

“Oh, that looks bad. Get him back to the lab as soon as possible!”

“Already on it, Mr. Fenton!”

“Good! Maddie should have a cure for him by the time you arrive!”

Then the screen went blank. Sam pressed the Fenton earphones and got through to Danny.

“Tucker and I are heading back to FentonWorks. A werewolf bit Tucker!”

“What?”

His tone of surprise is so great, Sam can almost see him pausing whatever he’s doing just to react.

“We’re on our way back to the lab, your parents are working on a cure right now! Tucker’s gonna be fine, he’s just,” she glances at him and puts a hand on his good shoulder to keep him upright, “he’ll be better soon.”

“Are you sure he’ll be alright?”

“I hope so. Your parents really seem to know what to do.”

He pauses and Sam waits for him to speak.

“I’ll meet you there.”

“See you.”

The vehicle pulls up to the lab and Sam rushes Tucker inside. He groans in pain but they don’t have the time to care. Jack and Maddie help them inside and they place Tucker on a gurney.

“This is gonna hurt,” she warns Tucker.

Before he can say anything she grabs a needle and injects a purplish looking substance into his shoulder, right where the wound is. His eyes widen and he grabs his wound, blood oozing onto his hand, then he falls back and passes out.

“Is he alright?” Sam asks.

“Oh, he’s fine. The cure works best when the patient’s passed out. It’s less painful that way,” Maddie explains.

Sam nods and turns to leave, seeing Danny helping Jazz and Valerie inside. The girls look roughed up, and Jazz has a thin layer of sweat setting on her face.

“What happened?”

Sam helps get Jazz onto a gurney and sees a bite mark on her neck. It isn’t easy to make out; the wound is more like an animal gashed her neck. There’s a lot of dried blood around the wound and more is leaking out.

“Valerie and Jazz were fighting off a group of monsters; Val got thrown into a building and Jazz got bit! I can’t tell by what,” Danny explains.

His parents turn their attention to Jazz and immediately work on stopping the bleeding. After a moment they get a syringe and take a sample of her blood.

“I’ll start analyzing this now!” Maddie says. She puts a drop on a slide and puts it under a microscope.

“Come on, let’s go,” Danny tells Sam, grabbing her hand.

She looks over her shoulder at the others and frowns.

“I hope they’re gonna be okay.”

“Me too,” he mumbles.

They walk out to the front of the building and sit on the steps. Danny wraps an arm around Sam’s shoulder and keeps her close to him. She obliges and rests her head on his shoulder.

There’s a few moments of silence between them, both of them only thinking about the others down in the lab. Not knowing if they’re okay is eating away at them.

“Let’s try not to think about it,” Danny says, as if he’s read her mind. Sam feels a bit surprised but nods.

“Alright.”

More silence.

“I’m sorry we haven’t had much time alone together.”

Sam looks at Danny and sits up a bit straighter.

“Why are you sorry about that?”

“Because you’re my girlfriend, and we’ve been so busy with monsters and ghosts, and I love you, and you deserve—”

Sam cuts him off by kissing him, and Danny kisses back. He gives her a dazed smile when she pulls away.

“I love you too, Danny.”

He grins and moves his arm to wrap around her waist. The worry they felt a short while ago fades away.

“Everything’s gonna be fine. Your parents know what they’re doing.”

Danny nods.

“Yeah, you’re right.” 

A few days later, Tucker, Jazz, and Valerie are back to normal. Sam and Danny walk down to the lab and see all three of them sitting up.

“We’re glad to see you guys are doing better,” Danny greets them.

Tucker sits up, being careful of his shoulder. The bandages are visible under the collar of his shirt. 

“I’m feeling a lot better. Although I could really use some food.”

“I’ll get you something to eat,” Danny offers, heading up the stairs. As he leaves, his parents walk down to the lab.

“How’s everyone feeling?” Maddie asks.

“They look like they’re all better,” Sam informs them.

They inspect each of them, and when they look satisfied, they help them off the gurneys. 

“I was wondering, did you ever find out what bit Jazz?” Valerie asks.

“Oh, yes. If our notes are right, she was bitten by a vampire.”

Sam’s eyes widen.

“A vampire?”  
“Yep. Those fiends have a nasty bite, but Maddie gave her the cure, and she should be fully recovered.”

Jazz places a hand over the bandages on her neck, being careful not to press down too hard.

“Is she able to talk?” Tucker asks.

“She should be. I think she wants to save her voice,” Maddie explains.

“Good. She won’t be able to tell me what to do for a few days.”

They turn to look and see Danny walking in, food in hand. He hands the snacks to Tucker and Jack and Maddie go back upstairs.

“You’re gonna have to fight ghosts and monsters on your own for a while, Fenton. I let my dad know what happened and he wants me to stay at home to recover.”

“That makes sense. He’s not too mad at us, is he?”

“Pretty mad, but I’m not gonna let that stop me. I’ll join you guys again when I’m recovered.” Valerie grabs her suit and makes her way out. She’s careful of her still healing wound.

“You guys should take it easy too. Sam and I can handle the monster hunting with mom and dad.”

“Uh, no! I’m not gonna sit on the sidelines again!” Tucker protests. Jazz shakes her head and crosses her arms as a sort of agreement.

“I guess we can’t argue with that. You know how stubborn they are,” Sam teases. It elicits a smile from Danny.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have them any other way.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sam’s eyes begin to grow weary and she wishes they could do literally anything else. They already fight monsters and ghosts; why do they have to research them too? The Fentons could’ve done this themselves.

“This isn’t exactly how I wanted to spend my weekend with you, Danny.”

“I know, and I don’t like it either, but this information will help us as much as it helps them.”

“I know that, it’s just boring.”

He wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her closer. It’s not an easy feat, given the space between the chairs.

“You won’t think it’s that boring when you get bit by one of those freaks,” Tucker mumbles. In that moment they remember what happened to their friend just a few days earlier.

“Sorry, Tuck.”

He shrugs it off.

It’s fine, just thought I’d let you know.”

The three of them get shushed and they decide to pack their stuff up and move on. They agree to go to the Nasty Burger. When they exit the library Tucker and Sam hold onto Danny and he goes ghost, flying through town.

He lands and they let go, heading inside. They choose a booth and settle in.

“Hey, Tuck?”

“Mm?”

“What was it like?”

“What was _what_ like?”

“Getting bitten by that werewolf.”

Tucker looks up from his PDA and a pained expression crosses his face, but only for a second.

“The initial bite was painful, and then my shoulder felt warm.” He reached a hand up to his left shoulder. The bandages were still visible under his shirt.

“And?”

“What do you mean _and_? You wanted to know what it felt like, and I told you.”

“But wasn’t there more to it than that?” Danny asks.

“Danny, I don’t think he wants to talk about this,” Sam warns him.

“You should listen to Sam.”

Danny opens his mouth to object, but he decides against it and goes to get their food. He returns, and the three of them eat in silence. He feels bad about creating the awkward tension and he isn’t sure how to make it better.

Sam seems to read his mind and puts a hand over his. He takes it and runs his thumb over the back of her hand. His fingertips brush against the class ring on her finger and he smiles.

“Why don’t we go over the information we got?”

Danny and Sam look over at Tucker, surprised at the proposal. With his reaction to being asked about the werewolf bite, they didn’t think he’d want to talk about monsters for a while.

“Are you sure?’

Tucker looks at them and is confused by the concern.

“Yeah. Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

“Well, you kind of snapped when Danny asked about the bite, so we just thought you wouldn’t want to talk about monsters. At least for a while.”

“I snapped because it was a painful experience, and I almost turned into a werewolf. But I still want to know about them so we can take them down.”

They glance at each other and nod.

“Do you still have the notes from the lab?”

“Of course,” Tucker says. It takes a few seconds but he pulls them up.

“What do they say?”

“Uh, well, that depends on what section you want to go over.”

“Section?” Sam asks.

“Yep. It looks like Danny’s parents organized the notes about the werewolf into different sections. They’ve got how it transforms and the physical effects on the body, the schedule when they transform, how they turn others, how they communicate in their wolf form...there’s a lot.”

“Wow.”

“Where do we even begin?” Sam asks.

“I guess we could just go over the basics of each section.”

Tucker nods and goes back to the beginning.

“Okay, how werewolves transform and the effects on the body. ‘Werewolf transformation occurs during a full moon. The physical changes in the subject’s body are immense and cause massive amounts of pain. When they transform, the subject’s bones crack and shift, and their muscles shift and expand or contract depending on where in the body they are. Fur sprouts from under their skin, and their internal organs shift as their body changes shape. Many times, the subject will vomit blood when their body undergoes the transformation.’”

Expressions of disgust make their way onto their faces and Sam covers her mouth. She regrets eating before going over the information.

“Next section, Tucker.”

“But I’m not done—”

“Next. Section. I mean seriously, you want to keep going?”

“Not really. Their schedule. ‘Werewolves’ transformations are tied directly to the phases of the moon. When the full moon occurs, the werewolf undergoes a full transformation. During the half-moon, both waning and waxing, will experience heightened senses and a limited ability to communicate with their wolf companions. IN a new moon, the subjects are the most human they can be.’”

Tucker stops and scrolls down.

“Why’d you stop?” Danny asks.

“That’s the end of the section.”

He finds the next part and begins reading again.

“‘Werewolves often spread the virus, also known as a “curse,” by biting their victims. In most cases, they bite close to the head so the virus reaches the brain as soon as possible. When this happens, the infection races through the body and changes the cells in the victim’s body. It’s possible to reverse the infection and get rid of the virus in the victim [as shown by the case of Tucker Foley (notes pending)].’

“‘In other cases, werewolves turn their victims by scratching them. The scratch leaves enough of an opening for the virus to enter the body, however this doesn’t seem to be the preferred method for turning their victims. It’s also been rumored that drinking water from a werewolf footprint will inflict lycanthropy onto a human, but further tests will need to be conducted to prove or disprove these claims.’”

Before Tucker can continue reading, Jazz walks in and finds them. She sits across from Danny and greets them.

“Hey guys! What are you doing?”

“We were going over our research,” Sam explains while Tucker exits out of the notes. 

“That’s great! Do you mind if I help with that?”

“Sure. It’d help us out a lot.”

“Great! Oh no, I forgot; I can’t stay. I have to help my parents with some lab work in a while.”

“You know what, I’ll fill in for you, Jazz.”

She looks at Danny.

“You don’t have to, it’s fine.”

“We can get this information later,” Tucker says.

Danny shakes his head.

“It’s too important; we need to know as much as we can about our enemies if we want to be able to beat them. Send me the information later.”

They nod. Danny and Sam share a quick kiss before he leaves and waves to the others as he heads for the door.

“That was nice of him,” Jazz says.

“Yeah. Now what did you find out?”

“I did some research on vampires. Because, you know...” she drifts off and motions to the bandages on her neck. The wound seems to be healing alright.

Sam and Tucker nod, and he gets a new note ready.

“Vampires can’t transfer the, for lack of a better term, virus through a bite. In order to turn someone, they’d have to drop their own blood into a wound on their victim. The vampire cells in the blood start to replicate in the new host and it changes the cells in their body. That’s how they become a vampire.

“When the victim becomes infected and starts turning, their body stops making the nutrients found in blood, which is part of the reason why they start craving it and why it tastes good to them. Blood to vampires is like water to us; they need it to survive and it’s refreshing to them.

“Like my parents said, a vampire’s bite is pretty nasty. Because I got bit in my neck, the pain paralyzed me and my blood being sucked out felt...I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s awful though. I’m gonna feel that again in my nightmares.”

Jazz lifts a hand and places it over the bandaged wound.

“That sounds awful. I hope we don’t have to go through that.”

“I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone,” Jazz says, wincing a bit at the thought of it. Then she continues to recite the information, and Tucker jots it down.


	7. Chapter 7

Danny is supposed to be helping his parents in the lab. They were giving him a lot of useful information on how to deal with ghosts and monsters, and they were showing him some more inventions to help him and his friends. But his mind kept going back to his friends and the information they were getting from Jazz. He realized he still didn’t know what happened to her, but he was sure Tucker would fill him in.

It’s scary to think about how two people he really cares about were almost turned into monsters. Sure, even if they had turned, he’d still love them and they’d still be his best friend and sister; but would they have still been the same person? Being a ghost didn’t change who he was. He couldn’t say the same if he were a monster.

His dad nudges him and brings him back to reality. They work for a few more minutes and give him some more tips for fighting off ghosts and monsters.

Then his ghost sense went off.

“I’ve got to deal with this,” he tells them. He doesn’t wait for a response before going ghost and flying out to the street.

_I can’t see the ghost yet._

He looks around for several minutes but finds nothing, and is about to go back inside when his ghost sense goes off again. Danny looks around again and out of the corner of his eye he sees something coming at him. He flies out of the way and turns, seeing Skulker in the distance.

“Skulker. I should’ve known.”

Skulker doesn’t bother with a witty response and flies towards him. Danny dodges and Skulker shoots energy blasts at him. Some hit Danny and send him flying. His instincts kick in and he turns intangible again. He flies behind Skulker and goes tangible again.

“What, you don’t have anything to say?”

Skulker turns around and shoots another net at him. Danny dodges once more.

“Not even the ‘I’m the greatest hunter in the ghost zone’ spiel? Nothing about capturing the half-boy, half-ghost?”

The smile fades from Skulker’s face and blasts at him again.

“Nothing? You’ve never been this boring before.”

“I’m not boring!”

“Oh, there’s your personality,” he taunts.

“Enough taunts, ghost boy! You won’t think I’m boring for long!”

Danny reaches for his thermos and is about to trap him in, but then he freezes. Screams cut through the air.

 _Sam’s_ scream cuts through the air.

Danny goes intangible and allows Skulker to pass right through as he flies towards him, then hits him with an energy blast. The hunter lands on the side of a building.

“What did you do with her?!”

Skulker smirks as he looks at the boy.

“What are you doing, wasting your time fighting me when your girlfriend’s in danger?”

Danny grits his teeth and charges up his energy blast, but Skulker flies off. He clenches his fist and flies after him. Sam keeps screaming and he flies faster.

Skulker smirks as he leads Danny right where he wants him. He stops at the edge of Amity Park and feigns defeat.

“Oh, what’s the use?”

Danny stops and glares at the ghost.

“What did you do with Sam?”

He opens his fist slightly and lets an energy blast build up. Skulker glances at the green glow coming from his hand and smirks.

“Nothing, ghost boy.”

“You’re lying!” Danny throws the blast at the ghost and knocks Skulker into a tree behind him. The tree falls and the ghost glares at Danny.

“Enough messing around!”

He points a blaster at him and shoots, but Danny dodges it. His skills have improved since he first became a ghost.

“I’ll make your trip back to the ghost zone quick if you tell me what you did to my girlfriend!”

Usually, no one would describe Danny as threatening. Ghosts certainly wouldn’t. None of them would admit to being afraid of a half-ghost teenager.

But right now, it’s difficult for Skulker not to believe that Danny is capable of ending him right then and there. The look in his eyes lacks any kind of sympathy or compassion. His expression is angry and determined.

Danny looks like a monster.

“I didn’t do anything to her, ghost boy!”

“That’s a lie!”

“It isn’t!” Skulker lifts his arm up and presses a button. A second later, the sound of Sam screaming cuts through the area.

The look in Danny’s face relaxes and goes back to normal. He looks like himself again, but he’s not finished with the ghost. He shoots the energy blast at Skulker and sends him flying.

“Man, I really didn’t need that today,” he mumbles.

Danny grabs the thermos and aims it at Skulker, but the hunter isn’t finished just yet. He catches Danny off-guard and catches him in a net. The boy is knocked backwards, and an energy field emerges from around him. Looking at it, he sees it’s like a cage. He tries to turn back human, but he can’t.

“What are you doing to me, Skulker?”

“Trapping you, so I can bring you back to the ghost zone and see who this ‘Monster King’ is and what he wants with you.”

Danny tries not to show his shock and struggles to free. Being in the net and in the energy field, there’s nothing he can do to escape.

Skulker flies to the edge of the energy field, but before he can do anything a monster runs through the area. It’s enough to distract both him and Danny for a few seconds and that’s all it takes.

Maddie and Jack pull up to the scene and Jack doesn’t hesitate to use the Fenton-Thermos on Skulker. Once he’s trapped, Maddie deactivates the field and gets Danny out of the net.

“How did you two find me? I never told you where I went.”

“Oh, sweetie, we’re your parents. We find out a lot of things.”

Danny smiles and they hug, only for a second.

“Maddie, Danny, come on! There’s a monster on the loose!”

And with that, his parents get into the assault vehicle and Danny follows closely behind. 

* * *

Skulker grumbles as he’s stuck in the thermos. Today it took a lot longer for them to release him back into the ghost zone, and if he wasn’t a ghost, his body would start to hurt and cramp up.

After hours, he’s finally released back into the ghost zone. He gets his bearings and flies back to his usual hangout. He mulls over what he overheard.

First this “Monster King” and now there are monsters roaming around Amity Park? How long has that been going on?

It’s not like he can ask another ghost about what he found out; the ghosts here think they’re the only supernatural threat to the human world. He’ll have to snoop around Amity Park if he wants to know what’s going on with Danny Phantom.

And the best way to do that is to sneak around the human world and find out for himself. All he needs is to find the right door to Amity Park in the right place. 

* * *

A couple hours pass and Danny heads home again. He walks down to the lab and sees his parents there.

“What are you doing down here?” His mom asks.

“Helping with the lab stuff. We didn’t finish earlier.”

“Son, you’ve done enough for today. You deserve a break.” 

His dad ruffles his hair and Danny smiles. He walks back upstairs and sees Jazz walking in, Sam and Tucker behind her.

“Hey, Danny. Shouldn’t you be in the lab?”

“Mom and dad let me off the hook.”

“Lucky,” Jazz mumbles as she walks past him and down to the lab.

“So, you got some free time?”

Danny nods.

“Great! Movie night at my place?” Sam asks.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Me too.” Danny walks over and takes Sam’s hand in his own. After the scare earlier, he could really use some time with her.

“Just to clarify, we’re not gonna watch any cheesy rom-coms, are we?”

“When have you ever known us to do that, Tucker?”

“Well now that the two of you are dating, you’re gonna do some cheesy romantic stuff like that. And I refuse to be the third-wheel best friend!”

“You’re not the thief-wheel best friend, and we’re not gonna watch cheesy rom-coms,” Danny promises.

“And if it makes you feel any better, I’ll invite Valerie too.”

Tucker pretends to consider it, but it’s clear that the offer makes him feel a lot better.

“Alright, I guess I can live with that.”

“I’ll call her now.”

The three of them walk out the door and Danny flies them to Sam’s house. Valerie’s on the front steps when they arrive.

“That was fast.”

“I flew over, just like Fenton.”

Sam lets them inside and they four kids all head down to home theater. Danny pulls Sam back and wraps his arms around her. The action catches her off-guard but she doesn’t pull away.

“What’s this for?”

“I’m just...I’m glad you’re alright. I’d hate it if anything happened to you.”

Sam smiles and plants a kiss on Danny’s cheek. It leaves a purple lipstick stain on his skin.

“Nothing’s gonna happen to me, Danny. I promise.”

“I know, Sam.”

They hold hands and join Tucker and Valerie in the theater. As long as he’s Danny Fenton, he wouldn’t let anything happen to the people he loves.


	8. Chapter 8

“Any ghost or monster hunting tonight?” Tucker asks as the three of them sit at their usual table. It still feels strange to make their way around school without being accosted or called losers. It’s a nice change though.

“No, my parents insist on us letting them handle it. They want us to be able to take a break once in a while.”

“Did your parents turn into saints overnight?” Sam asks.

“Maybe.”

They start eating and they make conversation, pausing when Valerie joins them. Then they continue again.

“What are the plans for after school?”

Danny glances at Sam.

“Well, I wanted to spend some time with—”

“I think we get it.”

Sam smiles at Danny and he smiles back.

“As long as you don’t forget about your friends,” Valerie says, getting their attention.

“We’re not forgetting about you guys! We haven’t had the chance to.”

“She’s right. Ever since we saved the world, Sam and I haven’t been able to have much time alone together. Trust me, there’s no way we can forget about you guys.”

Tucker and Valerie glance at each other in nod.

“Alright, maybe we’re being a little harsh. We just don’t want to get third-wheeled.”

“You’re not gonna get third-wheeled, Tuck. We promise,” Danny tells him.

That seems to satisfy everyone and they go back to their conversation. Sam takes one of Danny’s hands, interlocking their fingers. He squeezes her hand and they smile for the rest of the period. 

* * *

The last bell of the day rings and Danny walks out with Sam, holding her hand. Tucker and Valerie are spending the afternoon together and Danny’s family aren’t expecting him home until late. Sometimes he didn’t like when his family got so invested in his personal life. This isn’t one of those times.

“I guess I should let you get ready for our date,” Sam says.

“Um, Sam, we don’t need to get ready for our date.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We’re going now.”

He tugs on her arm and gets her to walk in the direction of downtown. Sam doesn’t object and follows him.

“Wanna tell me what we’re doing?”

“Not yet.” He smiles.

His smile brings a soft blush to her cheeks and she smiles back. Suddenly she isn’t concerned with what he has planned; even if they just spent the next few hours in silence, it would be enough for her.

They stop in front of the bookstore where Sam’s favorite goth poetry takes place. She’s confused and she turns her gaze to him.

“What are we doing here?”

“Uh, listening to goth poetry?”

“But I’m pretty sure I was banned for life. I don’t think we’ll be getting inside.”

“Not anymore.”

She looks at Danny.

“What?”

“I spoke with the people that run the place and I got them to lift your ban. Come on.”

He grabs her hand and pulls her inside. The cool air hits her as soon as they walk past the front doors. Her eyes take a couple seconds to adjust to the dark lighting but when they do, it’s still the same place she remembers it to be.

“I haven’t been here in so long,” she murmurs, almost in wonder.

Danny looks back at Sam and the expression on her face makes his heart beat a bit faster. He grins and pulls her along to the back.

When they get there, there’s a table with a couple of empty seats. As they make their way over they get some stares from the other goths in the room, but neither of them mind. They keep their attention on the poetry happening.

Despite the messages of misery and despair, the two teenagers couldn’t be happier. Sam couldn’t believe that Danny had gone to the trouble he had to make sure she had a good time on their date, and she wanted to return the favor. But for the moment, she enjoyed the poetry.

While Sam’s distracted, Danny takes the time to steal glances at her and admire the look on her face. She looks so happy, like something had been returned to her after a long time, and he felt happy that she was happy. It took everything in him not to lean over and kiss her cheek; he doesn’t think they’d be allowed back if he did. And he doesn’t want to get her banned from this place again. He was lucky enough to be let in while not being goth. He wouldn’t ruin this for Sam.

A couple hours later and they decide to head to the Nasty Burger. Danny flies them there; since the world knows his identity, there’s no need to hide it. They arrive and he lands. They walk in hand in hand.

They order, then sit, then eat when their food’s ready. Since they’d known each other for years already, there’s no ‘getting to know one another,’ but rather a sense of truly understanding what they know about each other. Like they’d never really understood who either of them were until they were completely vulnerable and opened their hearts to one another.

“Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Sam smiles at Danny, squeezing his hand. Energy shot through her every time she heard the phrase come from him, and knowing he meant it made her happy.

“I love you too, Danny. So much.”

His face softens and he doesn’t try to hide the fact that he’s staring at her. Sam’s doing the same, so it’s not a big deal. Danny looks like he’s about to say something when Dash notices them.

“Hey, Fenton!”

Danny flinches at first out of instinct. Sam doesn’t blame him; until recently, Dash and his friends only talked to Danny when they were picking on him. But the football player doesn’t do anything besides ruffling Danny’s hair.

“I’ve been meaning to thank you for saving the world a while back.”

“Well, thanks, Dash. I mean, it’s kind of what I do.”

Dash looks between him and Sam and it seems to click in his head what’s going on.

“Are the two of you on a date?’

“Yeah, we are.”

“Well don’t let me interrupt! You two lovebirds have a good time. See you around, Fenton.”

They watch as Dash leaves them and heads back to his friends. Paulina waves when she sees Danny looking over but he just gives her a small smile and turns back to Sam.

“That’s a nice side effect of everyone knowing my secret identity.”

“Yeah, it is. The only downside is Paulina starting to crush on you now.”

“Right? It’s ironic that someone I used to like starts developing feelings for me once I’ve moved on.”

Sam smiles a bit. She realizes she was harsh on Paulina in the past, and harsher on Danny for having a crush on her. Maybe her jealousy had affected those feelings. Maybe her insecurities; she’d compared herself to Paulina for as long as Danny liked her, and she always thought that he’d never go for her, or someone like her. That idea was cemented when he started liking Valerie. Sometimes she still felt insecure about that, but she did her best to push those feelings aside.

A short while later they get up and leave. As soon as they step out the door, Danny’s phone rings. He answers it.

“Hey, Tuck.”

“Sorry to ruin your date with Sam, but Valerie and I could really use your guys’ help!”

“What’s going on?” Danny asks, putting his phone on speaker.

“Ghosts, and lots of them! Your family’s on the way to help out, but there’s still too many!”

“We’re on our way, guys!” Sam says. Danny hangs up and goes ghost.

“Ready?”

“Of course.”

Danny wraps an arm around her waist and they fly off. He feels bad that their date got cut short, but he also felt happy that Sam understood what it’s like for him to be a hero. He also considers himself lucky that she’s willing to put herself in danger to work with him.

_I love her so much._

Then he turns his attention back to the ghosts and flies a little faster.


	9. Chapter 9

“Thanks for the help, guys,” Valerie says. She waves as she and Jazz take the monsters back to the lab.

“Sorry for ruining your guys’ date, but it was kind of important.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Tucker. Danny and I understand. We can’t always have a day off.”

“At least now we can get back to our date.”

Danny and Sam smile at each other and Tucker sighs. 

“I’ll be at home if anyone needs me.”

“See you later,” Danny waves. When he’s out of sight, Danny and Sam start walking. The direction doesn’t matter just yet.

“So what do you want to do now?” She asks.

“How about a movie night?”

“That sounds great!”

Danny grins and takes her hand, changing their direction for a quick second. Sam pulls him back.

“Where are you going?”

“To the movie theater.”

“Why would we need to go all the way there? We could just go to my house and use our home theater.”

“Your parents would let us do that?” He asks in amazement.

“Well, they are being a lot more understanding these days. I’m sure watching movies would be alright with them.”

He smiles and without another word, he goes ghost and picks Sam up. Flying over to her house doesn’t take very long. When he lands he turns human, and they walk inside. Her parents greet them before they head down into the theater.

“Wow,” he breathes as he looks around the room. He’s been to her house a few times since Sam admitted to being rich, but he’d never been down here. The room’s as big as the lobby at the movie theater, and it has just as many snacks to choose from.

“I know, it’s a lot. But hey, it’s private, and ours for the next couple of hours.”

Danny grins. While Sam picks the movie, he spends the next twenty minutes picking through the snacks. He comes to the seat with an armful of snacks.

“You hungry?” Sam teases. 

He chuckles a bit in response and takes a seat next to her. Danny’s mind abandons the snacks as he moves an arm to wrap around her waist and keep her close to him. Sam doesn’t even try to hide the fact that she cuddles closer to him. If they could stay like this, they would.

“I want more of this,” Sam murmurs.

“Me too.” 

* * *

It’s early in the morning when Sam’s parents shake them awake. Sam and Danny hadn’t even been aware that they fell asleep.

“What time is it?” Danny asks as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.

“It’s two in the morning.”

Sam looks up at her parents and sees expressions of worry and panic on their faces.

“What’s going on?”

“Your friend Tucker called. He said he’s being followed by some vampires and he really needs your help.”

The two teenagers wake up upon hearing that. Sam reaches for her hunting equipment, gifted to her by the Fentons, and Danny goes ghost. He grabs Sam’s hand and they fly off.

“He’s called and texted us a bunch of times! We must’ve been in a deep sleep!” She tells him over the rush of wind hitting them as they fly.

“Where does he say he is?”

“Heading for the woods! He texted that about twenty minutes ago!”

“Got it!”

Danny changes his course and flies towards the woods at the edge of town. From above, they see Tucker running. Three figures are following close behind. They head down and Danny hits the vampires with an energy blast.

“We’re so sorry, Tuck! We ended up falling asleep and we just got your messages!”

“As long as you’ll help me get out of this mess, I don’t care!”

“Do either of you have any garlic bombs?” Danny glances at them over his shoulder.

“I used the last ones I had and it's still not enough!”

Sam searches the small pouch of equipment attached to her belt, and there’s only one garlic bomb left.

“I’ve got one! I also have some UV lights!”

Sam gives the lights to Tucker and Danny. Danny puts the light in his belt, next to the Fenton Thermos. The vampires make a half-circle around them.

“What do we do?” Tucker asks.

“We fight.”

Sam clutches the light like her life depends on it—it does, but thinking about that doesn’t help.

“How long have they been following you?” Danny asks Tucker.

“About half an hour?”

“Wait, what were you even doing out this late? You’re usually playing Doom if you’re up at this hour.”

“Um, I was kind of trying to camp out for a new game..?”

Sam and Danny exchange glances but they say nothing. Even if Tucker had been doing something else, the vampires still would’ve attacked.

The vampires lunge at them and the three of them use the lights. It blinds them, and if they look closely, they burned them around the eyes. 

Danny grabs Sam and Tucker, flying into the air. He’s about to fly off when a thought occurs to him.

“What are you doing, Danny?”

“Yeah, man! We gotta go!”

“What if they just attack innocent people when we fly off?”

Sam and Tucker look at each other.

“But they’re gonna do that no matter what,” Tucker points out.

“But we can stop them _now_ if we don’t go anywhere.”

“So what do you want us to do? Use ourselves as bait?”

Danny looks guilty and the other two deflate.

“Oh,” Sam says.

“Hey, I’ll be bait too,” Danny explains. It doesn’t seem to help their mood.

Danny flies close to the ground, getting the vampires’ attention as soon as they do. The three vampires rush towards them and Danny flies through the forest, his grip on Tucker and Sam tightening. The vampires stay close to their tail as they follow.

“You can’t fly forever, Danny!”

He knows Sam’s right; it’s only been a few minutes, but he’s starting to grow weary from flying. He can’t keep this up for long.

“I just need to find a secluded place, then we can stop.”

“We’re pretty far from town, we should stop before you lose all your energy.”

Danny glances around and sees nothing but forest. He nods and flies upwards, just enough that the vampires can’t reach them.

“Use the lights,” Danny instructs.

Tucker and Sam oblige.

As the vampires are blinded, they land and Danny hits them with an energy blast. It won’t hold them off for long so he creates a shield around them. The vampires try to get in but with no luck.

“If you can hold that for long enough, I’ll call your folks, and even get Jazz and Valerie here!” Tucker tells him.

“Then do that!”

Sam stays close to Danny, her light in her hand. Whenever she thinks a vampire might be able to get through— even though she knows they can’t—she uses the light. It’s not as effective but it sends them backwards.

One of the vampires says something. It’s in a language none of them understand.

“What did they say?”

“I don’t know. Tucker?”

He looks up from his phone and glances at the vampires.

“I can’t translate and call your family for help at the same time!”

“Then translate first!”

“But—”

“Do it, Tucker!”

Tucker puts his phone away and takes out his PDA, catching what the vampires said next. He spends a few seconds translating what they said.

“Okay, so if this is right—and it is—they said, ‘retrieve the ghostly one for Him.’”

“Who’s ‘him’?” Sam asks.

“Probably the Monster King! He’s said I could be of use to him and his people. He must’ve sent these vampires to get me and kill anyone who gets in the way!”

“Sometimes I hate being your friend,” Tucker says.

“Tucker!”

“Well it’s true!”

“Guys! Just Jazz and Valerie; Jazz will tell my parents what’s happening!”

Tucker gets his phone out again and gets through to Jazz. As he’s making the phone call, Sam turns to Danny. It’s clear to see that he can’t keep the shield up for much longer. He’s too tired to do so.

She doesn’t blame him; the exhaustion is starting to set in for her, and she doesn’t know much longer she can stay awake to fight. She knows that she’s tired, but she shouldn’t be this exhausted already.

“What if we can’t hold out until help gets here?” She asks him.

Danny doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t need to. Sam can see the fear and uncertainty in his eyes, as well as the strain. The shield starts to flicker.

“I can’t hold it for much longer!” He warns.

Sam and Tucker clutch their lights and aim them, ready to fight. Danny glances at them.

“I’m taking the shield down!”

Then the green shield disappears and Danny hits the closet vampire with an energy blast while Sam and Tucker use their lights.

“Run!” Danny instructs.

Without another word, the three of them turn around and bolt. The only thing they can do is hope that help arrives in time.


	10. Chapter 10

“Sam, use the garlic bomb!” Tucker calls to her.

“I can’t! It’s the only one I have! We need to get the vampires all together!”

Considering that each of them were being pinned by a vampire or just barely holding them at arm’s length, that doesn’t seem like a viable option.

“Hey Danny, why can’t you just go intangible and get us out of here?” Sam asks.

Danny’s eyes widen and he glances at the vampire trying to get at him. He closes his eyes and concentrates, and he goes intangible. Once he’s out of the vampire’s grasp he turns invisible.

“Okay, Danny, you can help any time now!”

“Where’d he go?” Tucker asks.

“Maybe to get help?”

The vampire lunges at Sam and she uses the light against it again. If they can’t fight the vampires off, they’d have to wait a few more hours until dawn, and she doesn’t think they have that much time.

“Did he leave us?”

“No, he couldn’t have!”

“I don’t think he’s here anymore, Sam!”

The vampire that had been attacking Danny sniffs the air, and it stays in the clearing for just a second before running off.

“Why aren’t these two following them?”

“I don’t know!”

Things are starting to look hopeless; Sam and Tucker are close to the vampires, too close. Sam’s using her hands to hold the vampire back and Tucker’s being pinned under the branch he’s using to defend himself. His PDA broke in the fight, so now he can’t call for help or locate Danny.

“I don’t want to become a vampire! I’m not goth, like you!”

“I think they’re actually gonna kill us, Tucker!”

“But I’m too young to die!”

Sam gets knocked to the ground and she barely has enough time to back away before it starts grabbing for her. She considers using the garlic bomb but she’s only got one shot with it. She couldn’t waste it.

Then something shoots the vampires and gives Sam and Tucker enough time to get up and run. They look over their shoulders and see Jazz and Valerie in the area.

“They’re here!”

Sam grabs Tucker's arm and they head back to the clearing. They duck behind the two girls, who are both dressed in their suits. They’re much more suited to deal with the vampires than her and Tucker.

“You guys arrived just in time!”

Valerie blasts a vampire with a UV light and cuffs their hands. The cuffs are made of silver, and to Sam’s surprise, it works. She thought that was just made-up. Then again, she thought _monsters_ were made-up too.

Jazz puts Tucker behind her and reaches for a garlic bomb. Her hand comes up empty.

“Oh no.”

Before anyone can react, Sam throws the garlic bomb at the vampire and the bomb completely stuns it. Jazz cuffs the vampire and she and Valerie head back to FentonWorks with them.

“Where’s Danny?” Tucker asks?

“And speaking of, where’s the vampire that followed him? I would think they’d both be back by now. Jazz and Valerie got here just a couple minutes after they left.”

“We should look for him.”

The two teenagers stuck together as they searched around the clearing. Just because the vampire isn’t in sight doesn’t mean that it’s gone. And now that she used the garlic bomb, they just had the UV lights to defend themselves.

“What if something happened to him?” Tucker asks.

“Why would you say that?”

“I’m just trying to be realistic! I’m not saying he died!” Tucker pauses and a look of horror crosses his face. “What if he’s dead?”

“Damn it, Tucker! Stop thinking like that, he’s not dead. We just need to keep telling ourselves that, okay?”

“But what if—”

“If we find his body, then we can say that he’s…. But until then, we hold onto hope that he’s alive and we’ll find him.”

“That’s leaning on the positive side, don’t you think?”

Sam thinks about it for a moment. She doesn’t mind the thought of death; it’s a natural thing, and it happens to everyone. But the thought of Danny dying, it almost moved her to tears. Needless to say, she didn’t think about it that much.

“I just want to be sure that we’re not making any assumptions about what happened to Danny,” she explains in a quiet tone. Tucker nods and they continue searching in silence.

“What are the two of you doing?” Jazz asks.

Tucker and Sam jump. They’d been so focused on searching for Danny they hadn’t heard her and Valerie fly back to the area.

“We’re looking for Danny. He disappeared just before the two of you saved us.”

“Danny wouldn’t just leave a fight like that,” Jazz comments.

“We know, it’s weird. And he isn’t back yet. It’s not like him.”

“We can find him faster if we split up to look for him.”

“Are we sure that’s a good idea?” Sam asks.

“Yeah, we forgot to mention that a vampire was chasing out of him.”

The two girls give them a look and Jazz sighs.

“Good thing we stocked up on garlic bombs.”

The teams had just started to split up and look for Danny when he came stumbling into the area. He has a dazed look in his eyes and he’s covered in bloody wounds. Sam steps forward and catches him, watching as he collapses and falls into unconsciousness. 

* * *

Danny couldn’t tell what hit him. He only meant to turn intangible and grab Sam and Tucker, then lead the vampires away to buy some time. He meant to be with his friends when Jazz and Valerie arrived.

Something, an invisible force, dragged him along until he got...he didn’t even know where. It was farther into the woods than he’d brought his friends.   
The entire time he tried to fight his way out of the force’s grip, tried to break away and get back to his friends. He needed to help them; things were dire enough when he was there.

_I really don’t need this right now!_

Danny used an energy blast to free himself from whatever was controlling him, but to no avail. After a couple minutes the force released him, and he hovered in the air.

“Show yourself!” He yelled into the darkened area.

Nothing.

Danny glanced around and tried to figure out where he was. He’d never been this far into the woods, it was difficult to tell where he was. He decided to fly above the trees and head back to where his friends were.

Then the vampire grabbed his foot and dragged him down. Danny turned intangible before it had the chance to pin him to a tree and bite him.

“Sorry, not really looking to get my blood drained today.”

He blasts the vampire with an energy blast, but some invisible shield protects it from the attack. Danny pauses and stares for a moment. Then he throws another blast at the vampire. Again, an invisible shield protects it.

“How are you doing that?” Danny asks. The vampire responds in the language—maybe it was latin? Whatever they say, they rush at him and catch him off-guard.  
The vampire slams Danny against a nearby tree and grips him by the neck. Their hand is gripped tightly against his throat and he can barely get enough air to breathe. He struggles, then remembers he can go intangible, which he promptly does.

The vampire sniffs the air, then gets frustrated when they can’t find Danny. He floats above it and makes sure he stays intangible. Reaching into his belt, he flicks a tracker onto its back so his family can find it. They seem far enough away from the city that it won’t cause any serious damage.

_Time to get back to the others._

He goes tangible again and starts flying off. When he flew through a clearing something grabbed him and threw him against a tree. He didn’t have any time to react and on instinct he turned human again.

_Not what I needed!_

Before he can go ghost again pain shoots through his body, starting in his neck. It feels like something was ripped out of his throat, but when he put a hand to the wound, the only thing he could feel was blood. It seeped onto his hand and dripped down his skin. He didn’t need to look down to know it was staining his shirt too.

He thought it was over, but then something, probably the thing that bit him, pulled him back by the throat and pressed something into the wound. The wound began to feel hot and he could swear that his blood was on fire. He felt relieved when the feeling went away.

Then Danny dropped to his knees and his vision began to darken. Blood dropped on the forest floor and he felt concerned. How much blood was he losing?

A twig snaps and he looks up; there’s a wolf with glowing bright green eyes a few feet away from him. He didn’t have time to react before it jumped on him and began creating even more wounds on his body. He tried to scream out in pain, but the wolf covered his mouth.

Danny has just enough energy to get up and keep walking in the direction the force dragged him from. He sped up his pace as much as he could until he saw his friends. His body was getting weaker as he lost more and more blood.

He stumbled into the clearing and into Sam’s arms, the hand that had been over the wound on his neck dropping. He could hear her voice but didn’t make out anything she said, but still, it calmed him. He could feel her holding him and he closed his eyes. For now, he trusted that he was safe.

And then he slipped into unconsciousness.


	11. Chapter 11

It all feels like a dream.

How can this be happening? _How_ did this happen to Danny? None of it makes sense. He has wounds all over his body, the worst of which on his neck. It’s impossible to tell what happened to him or what caused the wound. Best guess is an animal.

“How did this happen?” Someone asks. Sam isn’t sure who spoke, but it’s not important.

Sam doesn’t care about the blood getting on her clothes or her skin; she can just wash it off later. She cares about getting Danny the help he needs If they wait too long, he could die.

The thought of him dying makes her want to cry but she holds back. She needs to keep it together long enough to make it back home. Once they’re in the lab his parents will work to get him fixed up and he should be okay after that.

At least, she hopes so.

“Get him into my car!” Jazz yells. Her voice sounds like it’s miles away. 

Sam stumbles as she walks to the car. She places Danny in the backseat and makes room for herself. She doesn’t bother with the seatbelt and keeps a hold on Danny. Tucker gets in the passenger seat while Jazz gets behind the wheel. 

As the car starts, Sam turns her attention to Danny. He looks so helpless, and so pale. He’s growing colder by the second and she wonders if maybe they’re too late. If there’s nothing they can do.

Tears form in her eyes and she doesn’t bother to wipe them away, finally allowing herself to cry. The tears run down her face and her makeup runs but her only focus is on Danny. Maybe they should take him to the hospital instead.

“Why did you turn here?” Tucker asks.

“Because we’re taking him to the hospital!”

“Why? FentonWorks is closer!”

“He needs to go to a hospital, not my parents’ lab!”

“But—”

“Jazz is right! He needs to go to the hospital!” Sam speaks up.

Tucker glances back at her, then turns his gaze to Danny. His brows squeeze together in a worried fashion and he nods.

“Okay.”

“Here, take my phone!” Jazz leans down and throws the device into Tucker’s lap. “Call my parents, let them know what happened and where we’re going!”

Tucker doesn’t argue and does as he’s asked. Sam notices how Jazz refuses to glance at the backseat in the mirror. She guesses that the older girl doesn’t want to see her younger brother, wounded and bruised and all bloody. To be fair to her, the sight of him right now is upsetting. The smell of blood is getting stronger despite the blood on his skin starting to dry.

They pull up to the hospital a few minutes later and the three of them waste no time in grabbing Danny and holding him up before they rush him inside. The doctors take notice of him right away, and just as quickly as they entered, Danny was taken from them and wheeled back into a room.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz sit in the waiting room. None of them say anything to each other, the shock starting to set in. Sam glances down at herself; she’s wearing all black, but she can still the areas where Danny’s blood had soaked into her clothes. His blood is on her hands, nearly covering them all over. She hadn’t realized that he’d lost that much blood; it’s difficult to believe that Danny survived.

The three of them don’t acknowledge the very real possibility that Danny could be dead. No one dares to even let themselves think about it. That thought is just too much for them right now.

Valerie arrives a few minutes later and rushes into the waiting room. She spots the group and runs over.

“How’s Danny doing?”

“We don’t know,” Jazz answers, her voice small and quiet.

“What? What do you mean—”

“We don’t know! We just got him in here a few minutes ago,” Sam tells her. “Besides, you saw the injuries he had. It looks pretty serious. I think we’re gonna be here a while.”

Valerie wants to argue, to try and get answers from someone, anyone, but she doesn’t. She sits besides Tucker and bounces her leg as the four of them wait for any news about Danny.

“Did you tell my parents we’re at this hospital?” Jazz asks Tucker.

He nods. She nods in response and that’s where the conversation ends.

It doesn’t take long for the Fentons to arrive. They run in and go to the front desk, asking too many questions at once. Like everyone else, the people at the front desk don’t have any answers for them.

“Mom, Dad.”

The adults turn and walk over to the group. They sit beside Jazz and look just as worried as the rest of them do.

“Tucker told us what happened. They—is _all_ of that Danny’s blood?” Maddie asks. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is agape, horror flashing in her eyes.

Sam looks down at herself. She’s still in shock, it hardly occurred to her to wash the blood off of her skin and ask for a change of clothes.

“Um...yeah, it is,” she admits. “I’ll go wash the blood off.”

Sam stands and makes her way to a bathroom. The blood is dried but it only takes a couple of minutes to wash it off. When she looks at herself in the mirror, she doesn’t recognize herself. Usually she’s such a confident, self-assured girl that’s proud of her individuality. Now she looks like a sad, terrified girl.

Someone walks in and she jumps, her heart racing. Looking at the door, she sees Jazz standing there with a bag in her hands.

“Sorry for scaring you. But I brought you a change of clothes. If you want it, you know. You don’t have to—”

Sam takes the bag from her and mumbles a “thanks.” Jazz nods and closes the door, and Sam makes quick work in changing. She shoves her old clothes into the bag and joins the others when she’s finished.

Hours pass. The sun is starting to shine through the windows when the doctor comes out to talk to them. She addresses the adults first.

“Mrs. and Mr. Fenton?”

“Yes?” They stand.

“Your son, Danny,” she checks the clipboard then looks back at them, “he should be just fine. He was in critical condition when he came in, but he managed to pull through. He should be able to go home pretty soon, I’ll let you know when. You’ll be able to visit him in a couple hours when visiting hours start.”

Everyone relaxes, and it’s as if they’d all been holding their breaths while they waited for the news.

Sam’s phone rings and she sees it’s from her parents. Tucker gets the idea to call his parents and they both head outside to make their calls. They walk away from each other and Sam answers the phone.

“Hello?”

“Sam! Is everything okay? Did you and Danny save Tucker?”

“Um, yeah, we saved him from the vampires. But Danny, he...he got hurt. That was hours ago, and we rushed him to the hospital. The doctor just came out and said that he should be fine.”

“Oh, good.” It sounds like her mom had been genuinely concerned, and it makes Sam smile, if only a little bit.

“I could come home, but I wanna stay and see him when visiting hours start.”

“Alright. I’ll call the school and tell them you’re not coming in today.”

“Thanks, mom.”

“Of course. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And with that, Sam hung up the phone. She walks back inside and takes her seat again. The hours waiting to see Danny are gonna kill her. 

* * *

Danny is woken up by the bright lights over him. He winces as he opens his eyes and puts a hand up to shield his face.

“Danny!”

He jumps a bit when he hears his name, but he relaxes when he sees his family in the room with him. The events from hours ago run through his mind, but now it feels more like a dream.

“Hey, guys.”

“We’re really glad you’re okay,” his mom says, hugging him. She’s careful of his wounds and doesn’t squeeze him too hard.

“Yeah, me too,” he jokes.

“When you’re released, you’re staying at home to recover. No going to school, and no ghost or monster hunting,” his dad tells him. There’s rare times when his dad is really strict, and now is one of those times.

“Yes, dad. I can still have my friends over, right?”

“Of course, but you’ll have to do your homework together if they do.”

Danny nods.

“Excuse us, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton? Could we see Danny?”

The boy looks at the doorway and sees Sam there, Tucker and Valerie behind her. They all look relieved to see him alright.

“Yes, of course! We’ve been hogging the room a bit, haven’t we?” His mom says. His family each gives him a hug on their way out, and their seats are filled with his girlfriend and their friends.

“How are you feeling?” Tucker asks.

“Pretty okay. My body’s sore and the lights are bright, and I found out I still have to do homework even though I won’t be going to school for a while. Other than that, grateful to be okay.”

Sam leans over and takes his hand.

“Do you remember anything about what happened?”

Danny squeezes her hand as he racks his brain. Only bits and pieces come to mind.

“I remember the fight, kind of. Something pulled me back into the woods. And then...my memory just jumps to when I got attacked by a wolf. Then I found you guys, and I woke up here.”

His friends nod and exchange glances.

“Why? What happened?”

“I called you guys because I was being chased by a group of vampires. In the middle of the fight, you flew off somewhere, and while you were gone, Jazz and Valerie joined us. We fought off the vampires and after a few minutes of looking for you, you wandered to where we were, covered in your injuries. Then we rushed you here,” Tucker explains.

Danny has to look away and think about what happened. The memories start coming back to him, but some feel like they’re locked behind some door he didn’t know his mind had. When he looks up, Tucker and Valerie look relieved yet concerned, and for the first time since they walked in, he sees the faint lines in Sam’s makeup. It takes him a second to realize that at some point, she’d been crying.

“Hey, guys, I’m okay now. Why don’t we focus on that?”

Sam smiles, and he returns the favor.

“I think we’d all like that.” She leans over and presses a kiss to his forehead. For the rest of their visit, no one talks about what happened.


	12. Chapter 12

Two weeks later, Danny’s parents take him back to the hospital. He’s told that the doctor wants to check his wounds and see how they’re healing.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good since I got home,” he tells Jazz.

“That’s good. Maybe you’ll be completely better in a few days.”

“I hope so.”

They head inside and wait for the doctor. It takes about an hour before Danny gets called back. He follows the doctor into the examination room.

“How have you been feeling, Danny?”

“Fine, I guess. I haven’t been in much pain since I went home.”

The doctor nods and checks the clipboard she holds. She checks a few things before she sets it aside and turns to him.

“I’m going to take the bandages off and check your injuries, alright?”

Danny nods. The doctor starts with the bandages on his neck and throws them into the trash. She pauses once all the bandages are off and examines the skin.

“That’s peculiar,” she mumbles.

“Is something wrong?”

“Uh, not quite. Your injuries are healed, and there’s only a scar where the wound was. I was expecting another week before they were healed.”

She continues to take the bandages off, allowing him to remove the ones on his legs. He throws them into the trash and looks at the doctor.

“So what now?”

“You’re healed, so you can go home and go back to normal life. Just make sure to be careful when you head into the woods and try not to get attacked by a wolf again."

“I’ve already got that covered.”

The doctor nods and opens the door.

“You’re free to go.”

Danny gets off of the bed and walks out. His parents stand and they meet with the doctor.

“What did she say?” Jazz asks him.

“She says I’m good to go.”

“Great!” She turns to their parents. “I’ll drive Danny to school!”

Danny follows his sister out to the car and they get inside.

“But I don’t have my backpack or school supplies.”

“Yeah, that’s why we’re stopping at home so you can go get them.” She starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot. The ride home takes a few minutes and it’s filled with silence. But not an awkward one; more like one of relief.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Jazz tells him as they pull up to FentonWorks.

“I’m glad I’m okay too.”

Neither of them move. As he suspects, Jazz leans over and hugs him. He hugs back, something he wouldn’t normally do. But given the circumstances, he doesn’t mind returning the gesture.

“Now get your things, I’ll call the school and let them know we’re coming.”

“Got it.” Danny gets out and heads up to his room. He grabs his bag and shoves the homework and textbooks inside, grabbing his phone before running back to the car. Jazz hangs up the phone as he gets into the passenger seat.

The drive to school is like the opposite of the drive home: it’s rushed and feels urgent. In Danny’s opinion, Jazz is too concerned with making it to school on time for her own good. Or at least _his_ own good.

“You know we’ll only be in time for second period anyway! You don’t need to drive like your life depends on it.”

“I’m not!”

“You are too! You’re worse than dad right now!”

“You take that back!”

“I won’t—Jazz, brakes!”

Jazz steps on the brakes and the car comes screeching to a halt in front of the school. They exit the car and with the push of a button, it drives off.

“Dad remembered to give it directions to the hospital, right?”

“I’m sure he did. And if he didn’t, then mom did.”

Danny nods. The bell rings and they rush inside. Once they have late passes from the front office, Danny heads to Lancer’s room.

“Ah, Danny, it’s good to finally see you again. I hope you weren’t bored during your recovery period.”

“Not with all the work you assigned,” Danny says, making his way to his seat. Once he’s sitting, he notices a sweet smell, but he can’t tell where it’s coming from. He tries to ignore it and focus.

The bell seems to take forever to ring, and when it does, he doesn’t waste any time heading to his locker. Tucker spots him and walks over.

“Danny! It’s good to see you again!”

“Hey, Tuck!”

“I’m guessing the doctor’s appointment went well?”

“Yep. She told me I’m all good to go. All I have are some scars where the bites were.”

“What scars?”

Danny stops what he’s doing and looks at his best friend.

“What do you mean? The doctor looked at it when she took the bandages off.” He turns and angles his neck so Tucker can look.

“Dude, there’s nothing there.”

“That’s impossible, I just saw her an hour ago.”

Tucker takes his new PDA out and takes a picture of his neck, then shows the picture to Danny. The dark-haired boy stares at it in wonder as there’s no scar on his neck. He glances over his arms and sees the scars there are gone too.

“That’s really weird.”

“Maybe it was just the lighting in the office,” Tucker suggests.

“Maybe.”

Danny finishes putting his textbooks away and shuts his locker. The sweet smell catches his attention again and he looks around, trying to see where it’s coming from.

“Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?”

Danny looks at Tucker and sees his brows furrowed in confusion. Concern flashes in his eyes.

“Nothing. I think I’m imagining things.”

“Maybe you’re not ready to be coming back to school just yet.”

“No, I’m fine. Maybe my brain’s just trying to make something up to excite me. The past couple of weeks have been pretty boring just staying at home.”

“Or maybe it’s your ghost sense going off.”

Danny pauses and glances around. The hallway is busy, but he doesn’t see any ghosts. His ghost sense isn’t going off, either.

“No, it’s not. I guess I caught a whiff of a girl’s perfume or something.”

Then the two boys walk to their next class.

By lunch, Danny had noticed his throat getting parched. No matter how many trips he takes to the water fountain, he can’t seem to quench the thirst.

He grabs his bag when the lunch bell rings and heads out the door. He can almost swear the sweet scent is back but he tells himself it’s nothing.

“I’m gonna sit with Jazz and Valerie today. That should give you and Sam some time to reconnect,” Tucker teases him.

“Shut up, Tuck.” 

But Danny can’t deny that the thought makes him happy. Sam had been busy the past few days and they hardly had time to talk. Now they could see each other again.

“See you, Danny.”

“Bye.”

Danny heads to his locker and as the hallway empties, he notices another person heading his way. He turns and grins when he sees it’s Sam.

“Danny! You’re back!”

She hugs him and he hugs back. He notices the scent is coming from her.

 _It must be her perfume_ , he reasons.

“It’s so good to see you again,” she tells him as she pulls back.

“It’s good to see you too.”

Danny leans forward and kisses her, one hand going to cup her cheek. Somehow, this kiss feels more natural than breathing. Sam’s fingertips go to mess with the ends of his hair and she pulls back after a few seconds.

“That’s a hell of a greeting.”

Danny grins and takes her hand in his. He shuts his locker and they start walking to the cafeteria when an idea comes to Danny’s mind. He smirks and and tugs on her hand.  
“I’ve got an idea of how we can catch up,” he tells her. He doesn’t give Sam a chance to ask any questions before he goes intangible and flies them into a janitor’s closet.

“Wow, _real_ romantic, Danny,” she teases.

Danny just grins in response and pulls her in for another kiss, which she returns. His hands go to rest on her waist while the scent of her perfume fills his nose. It’s so sweet and alluring and perfect, she’ll have to wear it more often.

“I love you so much,” he mumbles against her lips in between kisses.

“I love you too.”

Danny grins and kisses her again. When she needs to breathe, Sam starts to pull back, but he isn’t ready to stop yet. He trails his lips down her neck and places kisses on her skin. Sam reaches a hand up and runs her fingers through his hair. Everything in the moment feels good, feels right, neither of them want it to end just yet.

Danny starts to kiss one spot on her neck in particular, his lips lingering there. Then he uses his teeth and starts to bite, but not hard enough to break the skin or leave a mark. His instincts are telling him to do this; it’s almost as if they’re taking over. This isn’t like him normally.

Sam notices the change, and outside the door she can hear someone walking down the hall. It sounds like a teacher. She pulls on Danny’s hair lightly, trying to get him to pull back.

“Danny, someone’s coming.”

His instincts ignore her for a second. It takes effort for him to pull back, but he does, and catches his breath.

“We should get out of here.”

“But I got purple lipstick down your neck,” he protests. He puts a hand over the lock and freezes it. “That should buy us a couple minutes.”

He reaches into his backpack and grabs the face wipes he put in there. Danny wipes the lipstick off of her neck and takes another one to wipe his mouth.

“Better?”

“Better,” he nods. Then he takes her hand and flies them through the closet. The hallway’s empty now. He lands and they start heading to the cafeteria.

“That was a nice reunion,” she comments.

“Yeah it was. We might have to do that more often.”

“I wouldn’t say no to that.”

Danny grins and squeezes her hand, pressing a kiss to her cheek.


	13. Chapter 13

“Are you sure you want to do this, Danny? The last time you fought monsters, you ended up in the hospital.” 

Sam puts a hand on Danny’s shoulder, concern in her eyes. As much as she wants to believe he’s back to normal, the thought of Danny getting hurt, or even losing him, is weighing on her mind.

“I’ll be okay, Sam. I promise.”

Danny cups her cheeks and pulls her in for a kiss. Sam kisses back but she doesn’t feel any better.

“I really hope you’re right about that,” she mumbles as she pulls away.

Tucker walks into the room and watches them for a second. They don’t notice him right away, and he knows that the two of them could really use this. None of them want a repeat of last time.

“Tucker!”

“Oh, uh, how long have you been standing there?” Danny asks, a hand going to rub the back of his neck.

“Not long. I didn’t want to interrupt. Um, Valerie and Jazz are all set to go. We’re just waiting for you guys—but there’s no rush. I’ll be out in the RV.”

Tucker waves as he leaves and they wave back. The two of them turn back to one another and share another kiss.

“I love you, Danny.”

“I love you too, Sam.”

Sam hugs him again and holds him tight to her. Danny wraps his arms around her, and for a moment she feels secure. Like there’s not a chance that she could almost lose him again.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he says, tilting her head up and stroking her cheek. “Nothing’s gonna happen tonight; we’re all gonna be just fine. I promise.”

“I know. It’s just...that’s what we thought last time. And then you ended up in the hospital, and I don’t want to go through that again.”

“I don’t either, and I know there isn’t a guarantee that I’ll be fine, but we need to go back to hunting at some point. We can’t avoid it forever.”

Sam sighs and nods.

“I know.”

“And at least we’ll all be together this time. So if anything does happen, we can get help sooner than last time.”

Sam looks up at him. The love and confidence in his bright, blue eyes soothes her and she nods again.

“Okay.”

Danny smiles and pecks her lips again.

“Let’s go.”

Danny grabs her hand and goes ghost. Sam doesn’t bother shielding her eyes from the brightness of it anymore; she’s used to it by now. Without a warning he goes intangible and flies them out to the RV.

“Hey, love birds,” Valerie greets them.

“Are we all ready to go?”

“Yep, all here!”

Jazz doesn’t waste any time and starts the RV, taking off in the direction of the coordinates she put in. Jazz and Danny follow at top speed.

“So what’s the plan?” Tucker’s voice crackles through the earbuds.

“You and Sam take the RV and act as distractions for the monster and lead them to where Valerie and I are waiting for them. We’ll do the fighting and paralyze them; you and Sam don’t leave the RV. And while we’re doing that, Danny can fight off the ghosts in the area.”

“I like the sound of that,” Tucker comments.

Jazz stops the RV a few blocks away from the monsters, and Valerie and Danny fly down. Jazz gets onto Valerie’s board while Sam climbs into the RV with Tucker.

“Be careful,” Danny says. He can’t hide the concern in his voice or in his eyes. Sam smiles and kisses his cheek.

“We will be, as long as we don’t leave the RV.”

Danny nods and pecks her lips. Then he flies off.

“Valerie and I are gonna head to the abandoned manor. Do whatever you can to lead the monsters in that direction,” Jazz instructs.

“Got it!”

“And don’t leave—”

“We won’t leave the RV!” Sam assures her.

Jazz nods and without another word, Valerie flies off. Tucker and Sam wait for them to leave their sight before turning to the screen.

“Check the monster scanner.”

Sam does so.

“Hey, doesn’t that look like Danny?” She points to a dot on the screen. It moves the way Danny usually does.

“Yeah. But why is he on the _monster_ scanner and not the ghost scanner?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just being weird, you know how the Fentons are.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

They look at the dot for a few seconds, and then it darts off the screen.

“Did he just leave?”

Sam looks out the window and sees the ghosts flying in the area. Danny’s nowhere in sight.

“He’s gone!”

“What? Why would he leave?”

Sam looks back out the window, though she knows she won’t find the answer.

“I don’t know. We need to focus on the plan!”

Tucker nods and enters the coordinates.

“Right.” 

* * *

Danny is about to grab the Fenton Thermos and trap the ghosts; it seems too good to be true.

_This is so easy!_

He never should’ve thought that.

He’d just opened the lid and pointed the thermos at the ghosts, but something catches his attention. Danny can’t explain what it is: he doesn’t see or hear or smell anything out of the ordinary. Wait, smell?

He doesn’t have time to think about it before he starts flying in the direction. It’s almost as if he can’t control himself, like someone switched his brain off and is controlling him from the outside.

Danny follows...whatever it is, to where it’s coming from. But even when he gets to the end of the trail, he doesn’t understand what he’s looking for. Without thinking about it, he turns human again.

Then his vision goes dark. 

* * *

“Why couldn’t you have turned on the autopilot?!” Sam yells over the roar of the engine.

“I thought it would put us in danger!”

“And this isn’t?”

“Shut up!”

“Just turn the autopilot on!”

“No, we’re almost there!”

Sam checks the map onscreen and grits her teeth. Tucker’s right, but with the way he’s driving, he’ll kill them before they get there. The werewolves won’t even have time to do anything to them.

“Tucker, you’re gonna kill us!”

“Like it’s _my_ fault I can’t drive yet?!”

“No, but it’s your fault for killing us if you crash!”

She can tell that Tucker wants to argue, but they both know that fact to be true. They’re both buckled in, but just in case, Sam grips the seat and handle of the door to keep herself steady.

“Jazz, Valerie, we’re almost there! Uh, just a word of caution, Tucker’s driving the RV manually, so you might want to avoid us when we drive by!”

“Wait, wait, what?! I told you guys to put the RV on autopilot!”

“I know! But Tucker thought that would put us in more danger!”

“Ugh, fine! Just make sure he doesn’t crash into anything!”

“I’m _trying_ that, Jazz!”

“We’re just about to—” Tucker cuts off as they fly by Jazz and Valerie. Then he slams on the brakes.

“Holy shit. Don’t ever get your license,” Sam warns.

“Hey! Okay, that’s fair.”

Sam looks back and sees Jazz and Valerie fighting the werewolves. There’s four wolves, but only two girls. How can they win like that?

“Tuck, I’ll throw some wolfsbane bombs at the wolves, and while I do you activate the tasers and the nets! I’ll aim them, and you fire when I say!”

“Got it!”

Sam climbs into the back and finds the wolfsbane and grabs a few of the bombs. She opens the window, aiming at the wolves. She doesn’t wait for a perfect opportunity, but it doesn’t matter: the bombs hit the wolves and stun them. Jazz and Valerie each manage to capture a werewolf and they start heading back to the lab.

“Tasers and nets are ready!”

Sam goes back into the front seat and looks at the screen. The wolves are starting to recover. She has limited time. Sam touches the screen and aims the nets and tasers; this would be a lot easier if she didn’t have to do this through a screen, but there’s nothing she can do about that.

“We’ve got one shit,” Tucker warns.

“I know! There, fire!”

Tucker hits the button and the wolves get tazed, and immediately after the nets capture them.

“Yes!”

“I’ll pull them back and into the trunk.”

Sam takes a deep breath and turns herself around. She switches the screen back to detect monsters, and there’s a red dot.

“Tuck!” She points to the screen.

“Another monster?”

They look up, and all they see is Danny flying towards them. 

* * *

Danny doesn’t understand what happened. All he knows is that he blacked out, and then he woke up beside a stream.

_How’d I even wind up in the woods?_

He leans over and sees his reflection in the water: seems normal enough—is that blood on his shirt? And under his chin?

Danny raises a hand and checks his skin, but there’s no cuts or scrapes anywhere on him. So how did that happen? He doesn’t dwell on it and plunges his hands into the stream and cleans the dried blood off of his skin.

There’s nothing he can do about the blood on his shirt except go ghost. Which is what he does. As long as he doesn’t change back while everyone else is around, they’ll never know.

Danny wants to change back and inspect his shirt, make sure it’s not actually blood. But he knows it is and what kills him is he doesn’t even know what happened.

Danny shakes his head. He needs to focus on joining the others. It doesn’t take long once he’s out of the woods: the RV isn’t far off. He flies over and greets Sam and Tucker.

“Danny!”

Sam hugs him and he hugs back. He can’t hold back his smile.

“I told you I’d be fine!”

“And you were right,” Sam says, kissing his cheek.

“It’s good to see you’re alright, but do you guys mind if we head home?”

“No problem, Tuck.” Danny gets into the RV with them and holds Sam’s hand on the drive back. This time, Tucker used to autopilot.


	14. Chapter 14

“Anyone care to remind me why we’re here, talking about Danny behind his back?” Valerie puts her hand on her cheek, glancing at everyone else at the table.

“Because he’s been acting really weird after we wrangled those werewolves last week.”

“You guys noticed that too? I thought it was only at home.” Jazz sets the food down, distributing it between the others. She’d asked Valerie, Tucker and Sam to meet with her at Nasty Burger to talk about Danny’s behavior recently.

“No. He’s even acting weird at school, too. He almost got into a fight with one of the new kids because they made fun of my beret,” Tucker explains.

“That doesn’t sound like Danny at all. If it’s not a monster or a ghost, he avoids fights.”

“We know, Valerie. That’s why it’s weird.”

Sam doesn’t say anything. Not yet. Her mind is still whirling, trying to comprehend what could be happening to Danny. Just a month ago he was completely normal. Now, she doesn’t know what’s going on with him.

“Sam? Are you feeling alright?”

She looks up when she hears the question. She wasn’t expecting to become the center of attention, at least for now.

“Um, yeah. Well, no—I don’t know. I’ve just been so worried about Danny, I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore.”

Tucker nudges her and Jazz places her hand over Sam’s, giving it a little squeeze.

“We understand. This is a really concerning time for all of us.”

Sam nods and places a hand on her cheek, elbow on the table. She doesn’t feel any better but she appreciates the effort.

“What’s the first thing that made you start worrying about Danny?” Valerie asks.

“For me, it was the fight last week,” Tucker starts. 

“We were just supposed to capture some ghosts and head out to hunt some monsters. They weren’t supposed to be all that dangerous, either. The mission was supposed to be quick and easy.

“When we got to where the ghosts were, it was like something flipped inside of Danny. Like a switch had been turned inside his head. He went crazy on the ghosts and released all the anger he had on them. I had to hold him back to get him to stop.

“Sam had to capture the ghosts in the Fenton Thermos, but there was hardly anything left of them to capture. It’s like Danny had...killed them. I know you can’t really ‘kill’ a ghost, but if you could, then that’s what Danny did.”

Sam looks up and she sees Jazz and Valerie with widened eyes and mouths agape.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before, and especially not from Danny. I felt terrified, and I could barely look at him the next day at school.”

A quiet falls over the table. Then Valerie shifts in her seat and averts eye contact, becoming visibly uncomfortable.

“I just remembered, there is something about Danny that struck me as weird. It was last week, the day after the whole werewolf thing.

“Danny and I were in film class, and we were studying horror movies. The teacher told us to write a paper about horror movies, you know, whether horror is good or bad, why that is. The works. Then he let us work for the rest of class.

“Danny seemed to be pretty excited about the paper. I just shrugged it off, I just thought that he liked horror movies. The next day, when we were supposed to turn our papers in, I skimmed over his paper. He’d written a lot about blood and gore—again, I just thought he really likes horror.

“But just now I remembered: to start off the horror unit, the teacher showed us some horror movies. Some of them were kind of gory, and a lot of the other students turned away. But not Danny. I think I was able to spot him smiling, or at least really enjoying what was on-screen.

“It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but knowing how he nearly destroyed some ghosts, now it seems kind of concerning.”

Sam looks away. She doesn’t want to believe anything that they’re saying; she doesn’t want to continue talking about it. It’s easier for her to ignore what’s going on with her boyfriend than it is to confront it. 

“It kind of sounds like he’s starting to turn into Sam,” Tucker jokes. It elicits a smile from Jazz and a snicker from Valerie, but nothing from Sam.

“Come on, guys. This is a problem.”

“Sorry, Sam.”

“I just wanted to ease some of the tension.”

Sam nods. She knows, but it still doesn’t make her feel any better.

“Danny’s not much better at home.”

“What happened?”

“There’s not really a single incident, but more just behaviors I’ve noticed.”

“What are they?”

“Well, there are times where we’ll be in the same room together. He looks like he’s in some kind of a trance, but when he notices me, something flashes in his eyes. Like he’s trying to figure out whether to ignore me or fight me.

“And other times he gets so irritated for no reason. Not like the normal ‘teenage boy going through puberty’ type of thing either. It almost feels like he’s fighting something in his own head, and when he doesn’t win he lashes out.

“Just this morning, the way he looked at me, it was like he was calculating how many ways he can hurt me. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, to say the least.”

“What about you, Sam? Haven’t you noticed anything weird with Danny?”

Of course she had. It’s all she can notice now. Sam should’ve known that day he flew them into the janitor’s closet to make out. Normally they’d kiss, and they'd only makeout during a fake-out makeout. At the time it didn’t seem like anything serious; and the way his lips felt against her neck felt really good.

But now that she remembers the incident, she can remember how it took Danny so much effort just to pull back. She hates how naïve she was. That gesture must’ve meant something; if he was acting normally, it wouldn’t have taken any effort.

And Tucker had a point: the way that Danny unleashed so much power on the ghosts last week scared her. The ghosts were barely holding on; they could hardly exist in the physical world after what he did. Capturing them and setting them loose in the ghost zone was the best thing to happen to them after that.

Sam had also noticed how Danny was acting just in general. She saw the way that he looked at her, more like she was his next meal than his girlfriend. She saw how he looked at everyone, like he wanted to kill them. His temper was getting harder and harder for him to control.

Sam noticed how he turned into someone else, and it scares her. Just a couple weeks ago he was his normal self; only after the fight last week was when he started to change.

“You guys brought up pretty much everything I’ve noticed.” 

* * *

Danny’s been having nightmares for the past week. There’s a few of them, but one nightmare in particular has been haunting him. 

It starts off normally: he’s in Amity Park and he’s with Tucker and Sam. They’re hunting ghosts. Then something goes wrong; at first that didn’t seem out of the ordinary. Most of the time their missions didn’t go over well, and they’d gotten used to having to prepare for the worst.

But in the nightmare, it really does go wrong.

Danny gets pulled away from his friends by an invisible force. As much as he struggles to break free and get back to his friends, he can’t. There’s nothing he can do.

The place the force brings him isn’t somewhere he recognizes. It looks like a darkened and bloodier version of the human world and he can feel misery in the air. He looks around, and a shadow engulfs him. When he turns to look, he sees a shadowy figure. Whatever it is, its form keeps changing and shifting and he can’t make out any features.

It reaches for him and no matter how fast he runs or flies, he can’t escape its grasps. The shadowy thing pulls him close and before Danny falls into the darkness, the thing whispers to him:

_You cannot win this fight._

And then the shadows engulf him.

Another nightmare he’s been having lately directly involves his friends and family. It isn’t pleasant—but it’s a nightmare, of course it isn’t. Danny, in the nightmare, wakes up standing in a pool of blood. When he looks to see where it’s coming from, he sees his friends and his family.

It’s no mystery why that nightmare haunts him.

Then there’s one nightmare that he’s had a lot in the past week or two. It starts with him out in the woods. He tries to go ghost, but he can’t. Danny can’t even move, and it feels like he can barely breathe.

It took him a couple days to realize that it’s from the night they fought the vampires.

And just like that night, something from behind bites him, right on the neck. Danny screams, but nothing comes out. It’s not like there was anyone around to help him anyway. Whatever bites him holds him in place, and the wound feels like it’s on fire. Then the feeling spreads through his bloodstream and he screws his eyes shut from the pain.

Whatever bites Danny lets go of him and he falls to the ground. He reaches a hand up and touches the wound, and blood seeps onto his hand. The thing that bites him steps over his body and looks down at him. Much like the first nightmare, it’s a shadowy figure and he can’t make out anything, except for the bright red eyes and toothy grin that’s covered in his own blood.

A green glow appears from behind the figure. A voice comes from the glow and then the shadowy figure disappears. The glow comes close to Danny’s face and he can barely hear its voice.

“I’ll enjoy watching you wipe out your loved ones.”

And then there’s darkness.

But it doesn’t end there.

Danny opens his eyes and he’s standing next to a stream in the woods. He can feel something wet on his mouth and dripping down his chin, and something wet on his cheek. He kneels down and looks at his reflection in the water, and he jumps at what he sees:

It’s him, with blood dripping down his face and a bloody handprint on his cheek. He only looks up when he hears a voice from the other side of the stream.

“Danny?”

He looks up and he sees Sam, terror in her eyes. She stands like she’s ready to run from him at any second. And she does. As soon as she moves, his vision turns red. That’s where the nightmare ends.

Danny doesn’t want to suffer through that nightmare again, which is why he made the plan to stay up all night. He’ll be tired at school, but it beats having to live through a night of fear again.

Once he’s sure his family is asleep, Danny turns the lamp on and opens his laptop. He’s spent all night playing Doom before, he can do it again. He has to.

He doesn’t think he can handle seeing himself hurt Sam again.


	15. Chapter 15

Sam isn’t looking forward to ghost hunting tonight. Not after the way that Danny’s been acting. She can tell that Tucker isn’t that excited about it either. But neither of them let Danny know about it.

“Sam, Tuck, you guys ready for tonight?” Danny stands in the doorway. For now he looks like his normal self.

It’s easy to forget what happened to him.

“I’m ready.”

“I just need to grab my thermos, then I’ll be right down.”

Tucker nods and walks out to the front room. Danny lingers in the doorway and watches Sam as she grabs the Fenton Thermos. She blushes when she catches his eye.

“Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

“No, no. I’m just admiring you.”

Sam smiles and looks away. It doesn’t seem to take much effort from him anymore to get her to blush or fawn over him.

“You’re so cheesy, Fenton.”

“I know.”

He steps into her room and takes her hand, and she lets him. Sam tells herself that he’s exactly the person he used to be. She’d like to believe that.

“Are we okay?”

The question catches Sam off-guard.

“What?”

“I just—it seems like things between us have changed. And I don’t know what happened. I’m...I’m kind of scared that things are changing our relationship, and I don’t want that.”

“I don’t either, Danny!” Sam steps in front of him and places her hand on his cheek. “I think what happened in the woods, with those vampires, it just—it scared us. All of us, really. And I don’t think either of us really confronted what we felt about it. But I don’t think that we should worry about it breaking us up.”

Danny nods and smiles, leaning into her touch. The way he looks at Sam could make her melt.

“Thanks, Sam.”

He leans in and kisses her, his arms going to wrap around her waist. Sam smiles against his lips.

“I love you, Danny.”

“I love you too. We should get going before Tucker wonders what’s taking so long.”

“Oh, I think he knows what’s keeping us. He’s just wondering when it’ll come to an end.”

Danny chuckles and they walk down to the front room. Tucker’s waiting for them by the door. Without waiting Danny goes ghost and grabs the two of them, flying outside. He doesn’t need any reminders for where they’re going.

They reach the abandoned manor at the outskirts of town in just a couple minutes. Danny’s parents instructed them to leave if there were any monsters in the area; they’re only there to catch some ghosts.

“My PDA’s going crazy with ghost energy. Your parents were definitely right about this spot.”

“It’s no wonder this place attracts ghosts and monsters. Just look at it! Old and creepy and abandoned; it’s like a playground for everything paranormal.”

Danny looks around. His ghost sense goes off, but it’s been going off since they arrived. He can’t see anything or sense a ghost in the room and it’s getting on his nerves.

“So where’s the ghost?”

“You can’t tell?” Tucker asks.

“No. My ghost sense can’t pinpoint the ghost, you know!”

“Right, right. Sorry, Danny.” Tucker turns his attention back to his PDA and taps the screen a few times, trying to find the ghost’s location.

Sam puts a hand on Danny’s shoulder and looks at him. The agitated side of him is showing again, and she hates it. Even when he’s angry, he’s never usually like this.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m,” he sighs. “Sorry, Tuck! I don’t know why I’m so irritated right now. I didn’t mean to snap.”

“Thanks, Danny. Anyway, I think I found the ghost. It should be in the room up—”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, ghost boy.”

The three teenagers look up and see Skulker in the corner of the room. Danny flies up and ghost energy forms around his clenched fists.

“Oh, relax ghost boy. I’m not here to fight you.”

“Yeah right. The last time you said that you tried to capture me and take me back to the ghost zone!”

Sam and Tucker glance at each other, and they both reach for their thermos.

“That was because I planned to do experiments on you to see why this Monster King wanted you. Now there’s no need.”

Shock settles in the room as the three teenagers remember what the witch once said about Danny:

_"The Monster King has taken a special interest in you. He believes you could be of some use to his people."_

“What do you know about the Monster King? We don’t know that much about him!”

“I know enough,” Skulker says, smirking.

“I’m not dealing with this right now!” 

Without waiting, Danny hits Skulker with an energy blast. It sends the ghost into the wall behind him and disorients him. Sam aims the thermos, but there isn’t a clear shot yet; Danny will get trapped in the thermos too. She and Tucker move around the room to try and aim for Skulker.

“I see the changes are already taking place, ghost child. It’s impressive.”

“Changes?”

Skulker doesn’t elaborate. It’s infuriating how he knows something that the rest of them don’t.

“What’s he talking about?” Tucker asks Sam.

“I have no idea.”

“I don’t know what ‘changes’ you’re talking about, but right now, I don’t really care.” Danny blasts Skulker again. “I just want you back in the ghost zone where you can’t bother me, or anyone else!”

Skulker dodges another blast and fires back one of his own. It hits Danny and sends him across the room. Tucker aims his thermos at the ghost, but Skulker blasts it out of his hand. 

“Tucker!”

“I’m fine!”

“Not for long.” Skulker flies down and grabs Tucker, using him as a shield. When Danny gets his bearings, he tries to shoot an energy blast at him but he can’t. He’d hit his best friend.

“Damn it,” he mumbles.

Sam tries to find a good angle to trap Skulker, but even when she finds it and aims she knows she can’t go through with it. Tucker would fall to the floor and with the distance between Skulker and Danny, there’s a good chance that Tucker would just fall and get hurt.

“Now, now, ghost boy, you wouldn’t risk your friend’s life just to hurt me, would you?”

Danny grits his teeth and a growl emerges from the back of his throat. He clenches his fists so tight his nails start to break through the fingertips and cut into his hand.

“Sam, I need you to—”

“Danny, I can’t!”

“Then find—”

“I have a clear shot, but Tucker’s gonna fall if I press the button!”

“What a shame. Well, for you.” Skulker smirks as he observes Danny’s behavior. “I thought the changes would be a lot more prominent, but I suppose with the way you’re fighting it, it’ll take more time before it takes over.”

“What are you even talking about?” Danny demands.

“You don’t remember that fateful night? Did you not realize how big of a part I played in making you what you’re turning into?”

Danny, Sam, and Tucker all share curious glances. None of them understand just what the ghost is referencing.

“Have the nightmares started yet?”

Danny stiffens and a smile spreads across Skulker’s face.

“So they have. Right on time.”

“How do you know about them?”

“You’ll find out in due time, ghost boy. Until then, I’ll enjoy watching you fight what’s happening to you. You can have your friend back.”

Skulker throws Tucker to Danny and the teenager flies forward to catch him. Sam tries to capture Skulker in the Fenton thermos, but he evades her. Then he turns invisible and she can’t find him again.

Danny flies down with Tucker and sets him on the ground. He turns human again and hits the wall when he realizes Skulker’s gone.

“Fuck! How did he escape _again_!?”

“Danny!”

He looks over at his friends and sees them with wide eyes and dropped jaws. It occurs to him that he’s never been this mad before, and they’ve never seen him this mad before.

“I’m sorry, I just—ugh, I hate him! And I hate not being able to catch him.”

“Yeah, we can tell. You’ve never been that upset before.”

“I know. Seriously, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Well, uh, should we continue ghost hunting or just go home?” Sam asks. “Since your parents don’t want us monster hunting for the next few days.”

“Go home. I don’t want to risk losing my temper again.”

They nod. Danny goes ghost and Tucker and Sam hold onto him. He doesn’t waste any time flying back to FentonWorks. When they arrive, he flies them into his room.

“I think I’m gonna head home. I’ve had enough ghost hunting for one night.”

“See you later, Tucker.”

Danny goes human and sits on his bed, and Sam sits beside him. She places a hand over his and he squeezes it.

“Hey, Danny?”

“Yeah?”

“What was Skulker talking about when he talked about changes? And the nightmares?”

Danny sighs and he keeps his gaze on the floor, but he never lets go of her hand.

“The ‘changes’ part, I don’t know. Maybe he knows something about me that I don’t. But the nightmares, I know what he’s talking about. For the past week I’ve been having a lot of nightmares.”

“What are they about?”

Danny hesitates, but then he speaks up.

“Usually about what happened that night with the vampires. Or about you, and my family. Or the Monster King.”

“What happens in them?”

Danny shakes his head and closes his eyes. Sam understands and she pulls him into a hug.

“I’m sorry, you don’t need to answer that.”

“I just...I hate thinking about them. They’re like nightly reminders of what happened to me.”

Sam strokes Danny’s hair and kisses his cheek.

“I’m so sorry, Danny.”

“You don’t need to be sorry, Sam. It’s not like any of this is your fault. I just wish I understood why this is happening to me.”


	16. Chapter 16

The past few days had been rough on everyone, but especially Danny. The nightmares didn’t stop and neither did the changes to his personality. He’d recently realized what was happening and the stress of hiding it is starting to get to him. One night he decides to go out for patrol. That’s what he tells his family anyway. No one objects.

That night the Fentons decide to have a meeting to discuss what’s going on with Danny. Valerie, Tucker and Sam all get notifications about the meeting. None of them are looking forward to it; if they didn’t like talking about Danny’s problems with Jazz, they weren’t going to enjoy talking about them with his parents.

When they arrive,Tucker and Sam ring the doorbell. It doesn’t take long before Jack and Maddie Fenton let them in. Valerie’s already in the kitchen when they walk in and she motions to the available seats beside her. They take them and turn their attention to Danny’s parents.

“I’m sure you all have noticed Danny’s recent behavior,” Maddie tells them.

The teenagers nod.

“Does anyone know what’s happening to him? Just a few weeks ago he was his normal self, and he was sweet and caring. Now it’s like he’s a completely different person.”

“You don’t have to tell us. He’s been so crazy while ghost hunting, it’s like he’s out to murder every ghost he sees,” Tucker says.

“And at school! The vending machine ate his dollar and he nearly broke the thing in half! He scared the shit out of everyone in the hallway.”

Sam runs her fingers through her hair and sighs. This isn’t the first time she’s been a part of a conversation like this, but she hates it just as much. Why did this need to happen to Danny?

“Oh, what happened to our little boy?” Maddie bemoans.

 _I wish I knew_ , Sam thinks.

Jazz walks down and joins everyone in the kitchen. Her expression is a mixture of sorrow and uncertainty. 

“Sorry I’m late. I didn’t really want to do this.”

“That’s alright, Jasmine.”

“We don’t blame you,” Valerie mumbles.

Jazz walks over and takes a seat on the other side of Val, putting her head in her hands. The whole room is filled with a forlorn air and no one knows what to do about it. The drive for conversation is gone.

“Why don’t we just ask Danny what’s going on with him?” Tucker suggests.

Everyone looks at him. Jazz looks like she’s considering the idea and Danny’s parents look at each other.

“That’s pointless, Tuck. Even if Danny knows what’s going on with himself, he won’t tell us about it.”

“Actually, that’s partially true,” Jazz realizes.

“What do you mean?”

“He’ll talk to you and Tucker. He definitely wouldn’t tell his family about his problems.”

“And what about me?” Valerie asks, raising her eyebrows.

“Just tag along with Sam and Tucker when they talk with Danny.”

Danny’s friends all glance at each other; he wasn’t being very open with anyone lately. Why should they believe that he’d tell them now? 

* * *

Valerie leaves before Sam and Tucker. She says she wants to be alone for a while and they don’t argue. Not long after, the two leave and head down the street to go to Sam’s house.

“Do you know something?” Tucker asks, and Sam almost jumps out of her skin.

“What? What makes you say that?”

“You’re Danny’s girlfriend, there are some things he’ll tell you that he won’t tell me.”

“Oh, come on, Tuck. We’re not like—”

“I’m not mad about it! There are things that Danny tells me that he doesn’t tell you.”

“Oh,” she says, a hand on her chest. “I thought you were implying that Danny’s closer to me than he is with you.”

“What? No! I mean, even if that’s true I wouldn’t say it.”

Sam nods and slides her hands into her pockets as they keep walking. It feels like she’s betraying Danny’s trust, but she knows she shouldn’t keep it from Tucker. After all, they’re best friends too.

“Danny told me he’s been having nightmares lately. He says they started right after the day we captured those werewolves.”

“Did he ever tell you what they’re about?”

Sam nods.

“He never told me any specific details, just the general gist. He said the nightmares are mostly about the Monster King, or his friends and family. And the night we fought the vampires.”

Tucker sighs.

“Man, that night was _awful_.”

Sam nods in agreement.

“I know. As much as I try to forget it, the image of Danny all bloody and barely breathing—” She puts a hand over her mouth as tears form in her eyes. It takes a second for the tears to fall and leave tracks on her cheeks. The thought of Danny like that is just too much, especially right now.

Tucker pulls Sam into a hug and she hugs back, burying her face into his shoulder. She doesn’t bother to hide the fact that she’s crying, and he doesn’t say the whole “it’s gonna be okay” speech. Sam appreciates that.

When she’s all cried out, Sam pulls away and wipes the tears from her face. She has makeup on her hands and she sees where she’s stained Tucker’s jacket.

“Sorry about that, Tuck,” she says.

“It’s fine, I’ll just throw it in the wash.” He lifts his glasses up to wipe his eyes and she sees that he’s been crying too. “I really hated that night.”

“Me too. I still hate it.”

“Hey, did we ever find that vampire that ran off after Danny?”

Sam racks her brain trying to remember. After a couple minutes she shakes her head.

“No, I don’t think we ever did. Why—do you think that vampire found Danny?”

Realization crosses over both of their faces and it’s quickly replaced with horror. 

“You don’t think that vampire—”

“He had a wound on his neck.”

“But what about the others?”

“Maybe the vampire made those to cover up what it had done!”

Without saying another word, the two teenagers run in the direction of Tucker’s house. They run inside and hardly say hello to his parents as they go to Tucker’s room. 

“My PDA’s here somewhere,” he mumbles.

“We need to find the notes Jazz gave us, about vampires.”

“Yeah, I know—got it!”

Tucker stands and searches through his PDA. He sits on his bed and Sam sits next to him, looking over his shoulder. He finally finds the note and he reads the points out loud.

“‘Vampires transfer the virus through a bite on the victim. To turn someone, they drop their blood into the bite mark.The vampire cells replicate in their victim and given enough time, they take over completely.’”

“The wound on Danny’s neck, it had to have bitten him there.”

“But it could’ve been an animal.”

“The vampire ran after him after Danny flew off and he came back with injuries all over his body, and remember what Valerie said? About how in their film class he liked the gory, bloody scenes?”

Tucker nods. He keeps reading, though he doesn’t want to.

“‘The victim's body stops making nutrients in blood. Blood is water to vampires.’”

“Keep reading.”

“‘As they turn, the victim gets more aggressive—’”

“Definitely Danny, at least recently.”

“‘—and stronger—’”

“The vending machine incident!”

“‘—and faster and calculated.’”

“We saw that with Danny in the last few fights, remember?”

“‘The victim will turn more animal-like as they transform.’”

“Jazz keeps talking about how Danny looks at her like she’s prey, and we’ve seen that ourselves. And remember how he kept showing up on the monster scanner instead of the ghost scanner?”

Tucker looks up from the PDA and sighs. There’s too much evidence to ignore, as much as he would like to.

“Goddamn it,” he murmurs.

Sam’s quiet for a few minutes. Neither one of them knows what to say; they just came to the realization that their best friend is turning into a vampire. What do you say after something like that?

“I hate this,” Sam groans, leaning back on the bed.

“Me too.”

“I really wish we hadn’t figured this out.”

“Me too.”

“God, I want to just curl up in bed and forget everything that happened today.”

“Me too.”

“Tucker, you sound like a parrot.”

“I do not!”

“Yes you do!”

“Well, at least I’m not the one whose boyfriend is turning into a vampire!”

Sam sits up and looks at Tucker, eyebrows furrowed and hurt in her eyes. Tucker realizes the weight of his words and he hides his face.

“I’m sorry, Sam, I didn’t mean that. I—I’m just hurt. This hasn’t been an easy day, for any of us apparently.”

Sam looks away and wraps her arms around herself.

“Don’t worry. I understand.” 

* * *

Danny doesn't get home until late. He flies in through the window and lays back on his bed. He barely has the energy to turn human again, but he does as he stares up at the ceiling.

It’s only been a few days since he finally figured out what’s been going on with him. He knows he isn’t human anymore.

He’s a vampire.

It explains how he keeps blacking out and waking up with blood on his face and clothes. He wants to tell his family about it and ask them to cure it, but he’s terrified.

What if they don’t accept him, the way he can’t accept himself?


	17. Chapter 17

Another day, another night Danny has to fight to keep himself from turning into a vampire. It’s no easy task, and he hates that he has to fight just to hold onto his humanity. Everyday since he realized what happened to him has been a battle and he’s starting to think that maybe it isn’t worth fighting anymore.

When the moon rises and he hears his family heading to bed, Danny puts on a hoodie and flies off. Once again, he heads to the woods. He hasn’t fed from anyone—at least while he’s conscious. There were a few times before he realized what happened when he woke up with blood on his mouth. Looking back, those moments disgusted him. They also made his mouth water, and that disgusted him too.

Danny lands near the manor and heads inside. No one lives within miles of this place, so it’s safe enough. Memories, memories he hates, runs through his mind. The first being the night he found out.

_It’s the morning after the latest fight with Skulker. The sun shines through the window and Danny groans, pulling the blankets up over his head. He doesn’t want to get up and head to school._

_“Danny!” Jazz’s voice comes from the other side of his door._

_“Go away!”_

_“You’re gonna be late for school, and I’m not leaving until you get up!”_

_Danny groans._

_“Fine!”_

_“Thank you. I’ll be in the kitchen.”_

_He can hear Jazz’s footsteps leaving his door and he sits up. It feels like there’s a dark cloud swarming in his mind and no matter what he did it won’t go away. He tries to ignore it._

_He joins Jazz about a half hour later. She offers to get breakfast on the drive to school but he refuses. He tells Jazz that he isn’t hungry. She glances at him but doesn’t argue with him._

_When they arrive, Danny doesn’t say a word and he heads to his locker. Nothing can ruin his awful mood. There’s a part of him that hates it, but he can’t seem to do anything about it._

_Danny’s about to head to class when something catches his attention: it’s like a rhythmic drumbeat, and he can’t focus on anything else. The closer he listens, he can hear a lot of similar beats, only quieter._

_The loudest beat becomes deafening and when he turns he sees Sam standing next to him._

_“Hey, Danny,” she greets him._

_“Hey.”_

_On instinct, he leans forward and kisses her. This kiss is different than all the others; it felt easier than breathing, like this is his new oxygen. It’s impossible for him to pull away, and the only reason he does is because Sam pulls away first._

_“What’s gotten into you?”_

_Danny doesn’t know how to answer. He opens his mouth to speak and a tantalizing scent hits his nose. It’s enough to make his mouth water and it takes over his mind._

_“Danny?”_

_He can’t seem to snap out of this trance. Sam notices._

_“Is something wrong?”_

_“Not at all. What’s that perfume you’re wearing?”_

_“Um, I’m not wearing perfume.”_

_“Then what—”_

_Danny’s eyes drift down to her hands and he sees a bandage on one. He realizes the wound is where the smell is coming from. It doesn’t make sense to him, why would—_

_Then it hits him._

_“Sorry, Sam. I should really head to class. I’ll see you later, I love you.”_

_Danny runs off, rushing into the bathroom. To his relief no one else is in there, and he locks the door. Right on time the bell rings, and he knows he has some time. He looks at his reflection in the mirror and jumps._

_His eyes are bright red._

_“No, no no no!”_

_This can’t be happening to him—he’s not—he can’t be._

_“I’m a vampire,” he whispers._

Danny shudders at the memory. He hates that day, and he hates knowing he’s no longer half-human, half-ghost. Now he’s half-vampire, half-ghost.

The cravings since that day have gotten worse, and Danny’s had to fight harder to suppress the urge to sink his teeth into someone’s neck and drain the life out of them. Especially Sam; something about her blood makes his mouth water.

Danny feels warm tears forming in his eyes and he wipes them away. The thought of him killing Sam makes him upset and he won’t allow himself to think about it. He hates thinking about killing anyone.

He thinks about that night when he woke up in the forest with blood running down his face, as much as he tries to focus on anything else.

_Panic courses through Danny just before he plunges his hands into the cold water and cleans the blood off of his chin. He has to figure out what happened to him and why there’s blood on his shirt. Most of all, he has to figure out where Sam and Tucker are. He needs to know that they’re both safe._

_Once he’s cleaned the blood off his face, he goes ghost and flies off. It doesn’t take long to find his friends and he feels relief course through him. He relaxes and flies over.  
It’s not until Danny’s falling asleep that night when he finds out what happened to him when he blacked out. The memories present themselves in a dream._

_It starts when Danny flies away from the fight. His instincts had taken over and he wasn’t able to control himself. He flies into another part of town, turns human, and goes on the prowl for a victim. Danny walks into a coffee shop and waits._

_Time passes as he watches people come in and out. He starts to think that he’ll have to find another place to hunt when a girl walks over to him._

_“Hi. I’m Claire. I know this seems kind of forward, but I was sitting over at that table, and I noticed that you’re pretty cute…” The girl looks away and smiles, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear._

_Danny smirks. She’s the one._

_“I don’t think you’re being forward. I’m Danny.” He stands and takes her hand in his. “What do you say we go somewhere a little more romantic?”_

_She blushes but smiles and nods._

_“That sounds perfect.”_

_“Then let’s go.”_

_Danny walks out with her. Claire points out her automated scooter and he jumps on it with her. He doesn’t waste any time in driving them to the edge of town, near the woods._

_“Why are we—”_

_“Just trust me, you’re gonna like this.”_

_“Alright,” she mumbles._

_Danny leads her past the treeline and deep into the forest. Claire tugs on his arm._

_“I don’t like this, Danny. I want to go back to the coffee shop.”_

_“Trust me, Claire. Everything’s gonna be great, and you won’t be so scared anymore.”_

_She goes quiet and stops pulling against him. Danny stops when he thinks he’s far enough away that no one’s gonna find them. They’re right by a creek, so he can wash the scent away._

_“This is perfect,” he mumbles. He turns to Claire, smiling._

_“Danny, I—”_

_He tightens his grip on her wrist and pulls her closer. She doesn’t have a chance to scream before he sinks his fangs into her neck and drinks like his life depends on it. When she goes limp and slumps against him, he pulls back and drops her body. It disappears, but he doesn’t pay much attention to it. He gets on his knees and kneels over the creek._

_Then his eyes go back to normal and his instincts disappear._

Danny hates the memory; if it weren’t for that, and a few times after, he could confidently say that even though he’s a vampire he hasn’t killed anyone. He still thinks those murders are the reason he’s having such trouble resisting blood.

Another craving hits and Danny wraps his arms around himself, curling into a ball. He just needs to wait it out, then he’ll be okay.

“Stupid vampires,” he mutters. “Stupid ghosts, stupid monsters ruining my life.”

Danny closes his eyes and thinks about the fights he’s had in this place. The first one was the witch when she captured his friends. He remembers that she mentioned the Monster King. 

Had he sent the vampires that attacked Tucker that night? It seems plausible; he _did_ say that he thinks Danny could be useful to him.

But then that raises the question: how did Skulker know about what happened to him that night? He hadn’t been there when Danny got bitten.

Unless he was, and Danny hadn’t seen him.

So many questions run through his head it starts to hurt. He moves his hands to cover his face and he groans.

“I hate everything,” he mumbles. 

* * *

Sam is supposed to be asleep, but she isn’t tired. She’s looking out the window, admiring the night sky. There’s really nothing else that she _can_ do. Since that afternoon when she and Tucker figured out that Danny’s a vampire, she hasn’t been able to relax.

Neither has Tucker, which is why he’s still awake too. They’ve spent the past several hours messaging one another about what they’re feeling and how scared they are. It feels so unfair, to be so scared of their best friend, and not being able to do anything about it. Sam wants to tell Danny that she knows and she wants to help him.

She can’t find it in her to do so.

Her laptop dings and she walks over to her desk. Tucker responds to her message.

_I think the thing I hate most is not even being able to tell Danny about finding out_ , she types.

_I know; I feel the same way._

Sam sighs. He sends another message.

_Should we tell his parents about what happened?_

_That’s a good idea. Let’s go over in the morning._

_Alright. Night, Sam._

_Night, Tuck._


	18. Chapter 18

Sam takes a face wipe and removes the makeup from around her eyes. Her eyeliner had run after she cried earlier and now she has to redo it. Well, she doesn’t have to; it’s not like the Fentons are gonna blame her for crying about Danny. It’s been a rough time for everyone.

There’s a knock at the bathroom door and she looks over. Sam can hear her mom’s voice on the other side and she checks the time. She must’ve been in here for longer than she thought.

“Be right out, mom.”

Sam looks in the mirror one more time and makes sure that she got all of the makeup off. Then she opens the door.

“Your friend’s here,” her mom tells her.

“Thanks, mom. Guess we should get going.”

Before Sam can meet Tucker at the door, her mom places a hand on her shoulder. The girl turns and looks up at her, and she sees a look of concern on the woman’s face.

“Honey, is something going on?”

“Um,” Sam debates telling her what’s going on. How would she react if Sam told her that Danny was turned into a vampire? Probably not well. “No. Why, what makes you say that?”

“Well, for starters, you’re not wearing any makeup.”

Sam glances away.

“And you’ve been gloomy the past few days. Like, more gloomy than usual. I could hear you walking around in your room late last night too.”

“You heard that?”

Her mom nods.

“I noticed you haven’t been talking about Danny, or bringing him around lately. I...I’m just starting to wonder if everything’s alright. Because none of this is like you.”

Sam avoids eye contact with her mom and raises a hand to rub the back of her neck. How can she answer that?

“Things are just rough right now, but things are gonna get better soon.” That’s what she hopes, anyway. “Danny’s just been...preoccupied lately.”

Her mom keeps her gaze on her, and after a couple minutes she nods and sighs.

“Alright. Stay safe, Samantha.” 

She plants a kiss on the top of Sam’s head, then walks towards the kitchen. It takes Sam a few minutes to walk out the front door, having to find her scooter. Tucker turns to her and they walk down to the street in silence.

“Ready to go?” Tucker asks.

“Yeah, about as ready as I can be.”

They ride towards FentonWorks, the motors of the scooters being the only thing that breaks the silence. It takes them minutes to arrive. They walk up the front steps and knock on the door. There’s no fixing the somber mood between the two of them now; even the sky is overcast, as if it’s read their minds.

“Oh, Sam, Tucker. Danny isn’t here right now. He left a little while ago,” Jazz tells them when she opens the door.

“That’s not really important—may we come inside?” Sam asks.

“Of course.”

The older girl steps aside and Sam and Tucker walk in.

“We actually need to talk to you and your parents. Valerie, too, if she’s here.”

“She’s not, but I’ll call her. It must be pretty serious.”

“It’s about Danny,” Sam confirms.

Jazz tenses up but nods nonetheless. She motions for them to go into the kitchen and they do while she goes into another room.

“This isn’t gonna be easy.”

“It really isn’t. Did you bring your PDA?”

“Of course,” he says, pulling it out of his pocket.

And now they wait.

“No.”

“Mrs. Fenton, please, we’re—”

“No! You’ve got to be lying! Danny can’t be...what you said.”

“Maddie,” Jack puts a hand on her shoulder.

Maddie stops and looks at her husband. They both know the evidence is overwhelming and it would explain the changes they’d seen in Danny lately. 

“It’s not fair,” she mumbles, hugging Jack. He hugs back and closes his eyes. He almost looks defeated.

“I think the four of us are gonna go,” Jazz says, getting up from the table.

“That’s a good idea.” Valerie follows the redhead as she walks out of the room. Sam and Tucker don’t follow them yet.

“Um, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton? We just have something to ask.”

The adults pull away and Maddie wipes her eyes as she looks at them.

“Yes?”

“You guys are gonna start working on a cure for Danny, right?”

“Of course!”

“Like hell we’re gonna let some vampires turn our son! If I ever find the bloodsuckers that did this to him, I’m gonna—”

“Okay, I think Tucker and I are gonna catch up with the others, thank you for your time!”

Then Sam grabs Tucker’s hand and heads out. The two of them grab their scooters and start driving in a random direction. They don’t really care where they’re going.

“Want to go to Nasty Burger?” Tucker asks over the hum of the motors.

“Sure. It’s not like there’s anything better to do.”

It doesn’t take long for the two teenagers to arrive at the restaurant. They get their food and sit down to eat, but neither of them are that hungry.

“I know we shouldn’t waste food, but I just can’t eat. Not now.”

Sam nods. Normally she’d be surprised at Tucker not wanting to eat, but under the circumstances, it’s understandable.

“I get what you mean. I’m not that hungry either.”

A few moments of silence.

“Hey, you’re not wearing any makeup.”

Sam looks up and she can feel heat rushing to her cheeks.

“Yeah, um, I was this morning. But then I got kind of emotional, and then I…” She trails off. It’s not difficult to put the pieces together. “I took it off, and then I didn’t have any time to put more on.”

“Oh, okay. I didn’t say it looks bad, I just—”

“You’re alright, Tuck. I know you’re not being mean about it.”

More silence. They avoid eye contact.

Then Tucker’s phone dings and he checks it. While he does that, an employee walks over and sets a coffee in front of Sam.

“Oh, I didn’t order that.”

“The boy over there paid for it,” they point out. Sam looks in the direction where they’re pointing and sees Danny. He waves and she waves back. Then he starts walking over.

“Danny’s coming over,” she warns Tucker.

“What?” He looks up from his phone and his eyes landon Danny. He puts his phone in his pocket.

“Mind if I join you guys?”

“Go ahead,” Sam scoots over to make room. He takes a seat besides her and takes her hand under the table.

“We didn’t even notice you were here,” Tucker comments.

“Yeah, I just got in a few minutes ago. You guys were already sitting down when I walked in.”

Sam and Tucker glance at each other, and Sam takes a sip of the coffee Danny bought for her. 

“You’re not wearing makeup.”

She looks at Danny and nods, setting the coffee down. Her cheeks heat up once more.

“Yeah, I—I took it off this morning. I just didn’t want to wear it today.”

“It looks nice.”

“Thanks, Danny.”

Tucker rolls his eyes.

“Alright, love birds, I think I’m gonna go.” Tucker grabbed his phone, suddenly finding his appetite. He waves to them before heading out the door.

Sam’s quiet after he leaves. Danny squeezes her hand before wrapping his arm around her waist. She takes another sip of the coffee; ever since she and Tucker realized that Danny was turned into a vampire, it’s difficult to tell what he’s doing genuinely and what he’s doing only because he’s a vampire.

“Are you feeling alright?” He asks.

“Yeah, of course, never better. Why do you ask?”

“Are you sure? You’re acting really weird.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. You’re being delusional, I’m not acting weird.”

Danny looks at her for a moment, almost inspecting her face. Sam can see the cog wheels turning in his head and she knows he knows she’s not acting like her usual self.

“Look, Sam, do you think we can go somewhere...just, private? At least just not here. I have something pretty important to tell you.”

Sam’s heart beats faster and her mind races. She thinks she already knows what he wants to say.

“Okay.”

The two of them get up and Sam takes the coffee. Not that she really wants it, but it’ll give her hands something to mess with while they talk.

“I rode my scooter here,” she tells him. Danny nods and grabs it, holding it up as they walk. 

Danny leads her a few blocks over to a less crowded and active street. It’s still out in the open, so even if something happens Sam can find someone to help her. She takes another sip of the coffee.

“Something happened a while back,” Danny tells her. He keeps his gaze on the ground in front of him; Sam doesn’t take that as a good sign.

“You don’t need to talk about it if it’s too difficult.”

Danny shakes his head.

“No, I—I can do this. I really should tell you.”

Sam nods and holds onto the coffee cup.

“Do you remember that night when you guys had to rush me to the hospital?”

“Of course. I’ll never forget it.”

“Well, something else happened to me that night—god, this isn’t easy.”

Sam knows what he’s talking about; he’s trying to tell her how he got turned. But now she doesn’t know if she can listen to it.

“It’s alright, Danny. You don’t need to tell me.”

“But Sam, I—”

“Danny,” she throws the coffee cup away and places a hand on his cheek, “it’s alright. If it’s too difficult, then you don’t need to talk about it.”

He leans into her touch and closes his eyes. A slight smile crosses his face.

“I love you, Sam.”

“I love you too, Danny.”


	19. Chapter 19

“I can’t believe my little brother got turned into a vampire,” Jazz says, shaking her head. Valerie puts a hand on her shoulder but it doesn’t do much to comfort her.

“I know. It’s really hard to believe. I guess I never really thought that something like that would be able to happen to someone we love.”

The two girls are quiet as they continue to drive down the street. Jazz doesn’t really know where she’s going. Neither does Valerie, but she knows better than to ask. Jazz is Danny’s older sister; this is a complete shock for her. At least she’s not just aimlessly walking around the city.

“I hate that vampire.”

Valerie looks at the redhead.

“I would assume so. It turned your brother.”

“I hate to sound like my parents, but if I ever find that vampire, I swear, I’ll…”

“Wow, you _do_ sound like your parents.”

Jazz sighs.

“I know. And right now I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or not.”

Valerie nods and turns to look out the window. The world seems so dark and dreary now; it matches the way they’re both feeling.

“You know what? I have a crazy idea.”

Valerie turns to look at Jazz.

“Yeah? What’s the idea?”

“I don’t even know if it’s gonna work. I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t.”

“What’s the idea?”

Jazz takes a pause, then speaks up.

“I was thinking about finding the vampire that bit Danny, and—I don’t know, find out why? It sounds stupid now that I say it out loud.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid. I understand why you’d want to do that.”

“Thanks, Val.”

A few seconds pass, filled with silence.

“Let’s do it.”

“Do what?”

“Find the vampire that bit Danny. I can help you with that; if we swing by my place I have an extra suit for you to wear.”

“You’d really be willing to do that?”

“Yeah! Danny’s your brother and he’s my friend. I want him to get justice just as much as you.”

Jazz smiles and nods.

“Where do you live?”

Valerie gives her the directions and after twenty minutes they arrive at the apartment building. The two of them head up to Valerie’s apartment.

“Hi, dad.”

“Hi, sweetie. Who’s this?”

“Jazz, Danny’s older sister. We’ll be in my room!”

The two girls head to her room and Valerie closes the door behind them. She doesn’t hesitate to get the spare suit from under her bed and hand it to Jazz. Jazz also doesn’t hesitate to put it on.

“Alright, how would we track a vampire? It bit Danny so long ago.”

“Maybe if we put a little bit of Danny’s blood into the tracking system, that could help,” Jazz suggests.

“How are we gonna get some of Danny’s blood this short notice?”

“Oh, you don’t know my family. Let’s stop by the lab, they should have some in there.”

Valerie nods and they both get onto her board and she flies across town. They stop by the entrance to the lab and Jazz sneaks in. Not even five minutes later Jazz comes back out with a small vial with Danny’s name on it. Before Valerie can ask any questions, Jazz puts it into the tracking system. Valerie searches, and after minutes of flying and scanning the area, the scanner picks something up.

“Out in the woods,” Valerie says to Jazz. Then they fly in that direction.

It’s not difficult to find the vampire; if it weren’t for the scanner, the trail of dead animals would be a direct giveaway. 

Jazz and Valerie both aim, then fire. Stakes hit the vampire and pin it to the tree behind it. It hisses and struggles, but it can’t escape. The two girls walk towards it.

“I have some questions for you,” Jazz tells it. The vampire speaks in a language that they don’t understand.

“I’ll translate.” Valerie messes with the translator in her suit and points it at the vampire.

“Okay. Um, why did you target my brother, the ghost boy? What makes him so special?”

Valerie translates.

“I was following the King’s orders. The ghost helped point me in the right direction,” the vampire says.

“The king?”

“The Monster King. He wants Danny, he thinks he’ll be useful to experiment on,” Jazz explains, “but I don’t know what he means by ‘ghost.’”

“What ghost are you talking about?” Valerie asks.

“The large, robotic one. He kept calling him the ghost boy.”

It takes a second for it to register in Jazz’s head who the vampire’s talking about. She turns to Valerie, a look of anger on her face and horror in her eyes.

“We need to find Skulker” 

* * *

After the talk with Danny earlier, Sam headed home. She’s still not quite feeling like herself, so she heads into the home theater downstairs. Her grandmother joins her after a couple minutes.

“There you are, sweetheart. I was wondering where you went.”

“I met up with my friends earlier, I got back a little bit ago. I thought I’d watch some movies and take my mind off of things.”

“Then why aren’t you watching any movies?”

Sam looks at the screen and bites her lip. She’d been down here for a while and she hadn’t touched the remote yet.

“I guess there’s just too much on my mind right now.”

“Mind telling me about it?” Her grandmother drives over and stops besides the chair she’s sitting in. She offers her hand and Sam takes it.

“Alright. But there’s kind of some crazy stuff that you might not believe.”

“I can handle it. Now, what’s the problem?”

“You know how my boyfriend’s Danny Phantom?”

Her grandma nods.

“His parents are monster hunters too, and so is Danny. And one night while we were trying to save our friend, Tucker, from some vampires, one of them got Danny alone and managed to turn him. The problem is none of us realized until recently, and now it could be too late to help him.”

Her grandmother nods, a serious expression on her face.

“That _is_ a real problem. I wish I knew how to help you, sweetie.”

“I know, grandma. I wish I knew what to do.”

They’re both quiet for a little while, then her grandmother grabs the remote. She starts flipping through the channels, making a comment to Sam. Something about telling her when to stop. Sam doesn’t get the chance before her phone rings. She answers it and hears Tucker on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sam. I’m coming by your place to pick you up.”

“For what?”

“The Fentons have Danny’s antidote ready, and they want us to administer it as soon as possible.”

“Alright, see you in a few minutes.”

“Bye Sam.”

“Bye.”

Sam hangs up and puts her phone in her pocket. She stands and turns to her grandmother.

“Sorry, grandma. I’ve gotta get going. I need to help Danny.”

“Oh, good luck, Sam.”

“Thanks.” She leans down and accepts the kiss the elder woman places on her cheek. Before her parents started being open-minded, she was the only person in the family that really understood her.

Sam heads up and opens the front door just as Tucker’s about to knock. They don’t say a word as they get on his scooter and ride over to FentonWorks again. The trip to get the antidote doesn’t take very long, and the two teenagers sit on the front steps.

“Danny tried to tell me about it earlier.”

Tucker looks at her.

“Really? What did he say?”

“He said that something happened to him that night with the vampires, but he couldn’t get the nerve up to admit to being a vampire. I told him he didn’t have to talk about it. And that was that.”

“Oh.”

“Well I said he _tried_ to tell me.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Anyway, call Danny.”

Sam does so and feels nervous yet relieved when she hears his voice on the other end.

“Danny, where are you? Tucker and I really need to see you; it’s pretty important.”

“Um, hey, Sam. I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to do that.”

“What do you mean? You can’t meet up with us?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” Danny says. His breathing sounds labored and like he’s in pain. “Look, it’s better if you and Tucker, and everyone else, just stays away from me, alright? It’s for your own good.”

“Like hell it is! Danny, Tucker and I—”

Then Danny hangs up.

“He’s not meeting up?” Tucker asks.

“Apparently. He says it’s better if we stay away from him. The way he was breathing sounded like he was in pain. Think you can track where his phone is?”

“Uh, have you met me? Give me a couple minutes.”

Tucker gets his PDA out and taps a few things on the screen. It’s not long after that he finds Danny’s coordinates.

“I’m putting the coordinates in the GPS now.”

“Good, once that’s done let’s go!” Sam gets up and gets on his scooter. He follows shortly after her.

“It looks like he’s out in the woods somewhere, near the abandoned manor.”

Without another word, Sam drives them to the edge of town.


	20. Chapter 20

After getting the information from the vampire, Valerie and Jazz fly off to find Skulker.

“Are you sure that’s the ghost that the vampire mentioned?” Valerie asks.

“Yes. It said the ghost kept referring to Danny as ‘ghost boy’ and the description matches Skulker.”

Jazz taps the screen built into her suit, trying to track where Skulker is. Valerie had told her that it would be able to track specific ghosts. Now Jazz is hoping that they could find him in time. She needs to know what he had to do with Danny getting turned.

“He’s not anywhere around here,” she groans.

“But we’ve looked everywhere else in Amity Park! The only other place we haven’t looked is the ghost zone.”

“Then we need to go to the ghost zone.”

“What?!”

“We need to go to the ghost zone!”

“Jazz, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been to the ghost zone; it’s not a place you want to get lost in.”

“Well you have a GPS in your suit, don’t you?”

“Yeah—”

“Then we’ll be fine. Let’s go!”

Silence. Their course doesn’t change.

“Valerie! Head back to FentonWorks!”

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Valerie asks.

“Val, my little brother was turned into a vampire. He’s suffering in a way I’ll never understand, and we just found out that Skulker had a hand in him getting turned, and now I need to find out what part he played. If you don’t want to help me find out, fine. Just drop me off at home.”

More silence. After a second, Valerie changes direction and they start heading to FentonWorks. They arrive after a few minutes.

“Thanks, Val,” Jazz says, stepping off the board. She heads for the front door and stops when she hears footsteps behind her. Jazz turns and sees Valerie still there.

“What are you doing?”

“Coming with you. You’re gonna need a way to fly around the ghost zone.” Valerie pats the board she’s now holding under her arm.

Jazz smiles and opens the front door. They head down to the lab after making sure that her parents aren’t down there, and Jazz opens the portal to the ghost zone. Valerie gets the board ready and waits for Jazz.

“Ready?”

Jazz taps the ghost tracker and nods, stepping onto the board behind Valerie. She makes sure Jazz is situated on the board properly before flying into the ghost zone. 

Jazz looks up from the tracker and looks around in awe. She didn’t really know what the ghost zone looked like, but it doesn’t look like what she expected. Doors floating in mid-air and several islands in varying sizes while ghosts fly from place to place. It’s sort of incredible.

“Wow,” she mumbles.

“This is something, huh?” Valerie asks.

“Definitely.”

“Your reaction is better than mine. I was pretty freaked out when Danny and I got stuck here together.”

“You two? Stuck here?”

“Yeah. Skulker captured us, as a matter of fact. He chained our wrists and made us work together while he hunted us down. I think I can remember what island he’s on, actually!”

“Which one?”

“The forest-y one. He has a thing about hunting and being the greatest hunter in the ghost zone.”

“That makes sense; a hunter in the forest.”

Valerie directs the board and flies from island to island, glancing over each one. After some time she gets frustrated.

“It should be here somewhere!” 

Jazz keeps looking at the tracker. It picks up ghosts, but not the ghost it’s specifically looking for. She’s about to suggest turning around and heading home when the tracker picks up Skulker’s location.

“Valerie! Skulker should be dead ahead!”

Valerie glances back at the redhead and nods, speeding up. As they get closer, an island comes into view and Valerie recognizes it; it’s Skulker’s island.

“There it is,” she mumbles, flying down. They fly close to the ground and slow down. Jazz looks at the tracker again.

“He’s close,” she mumbles.

Valerie stops the board and gets her blaster ready. Something in the area’s giving her the feeling of being watched. Out of the corner of her eye she sees something coming at them and Valerie jumps out of the way, firing her blaster back in the direction.

Just as she thought, Skulker tried to attack them. The energy from the blaster sends him reeling and Valerie fires a net at him before he can get out of the way.

“Oh yeah! I caught the greatest hunter in the ghost zone!”

“Lucky shot,” Skulker grumbles.

“Whatever. I have questions for you,” Jazz says, approaching the ghost.

“Oh? And what makes you think I’ll answer?”

Jazz grabs a Fenton Thermos and opens it. 

“You get pretty cramped in here, right?”

“So what? You’ll just release me back here?”

“Nope.”

Confusion crosses the ghost’s face.

“So where will you release me?”

“What makes you think I’ll release you at all?”

Skulker’s eyes widen as he looks at the thermos. Then he composes himself and nods.

“Ask your questions.”

“I heard from a couple vampires that you’re responsible for my brother getting turned. What did you have to do with that?”

Skulker grins.

“What makes you think I had anything to do with that?”

Jazz points the thermos at him and is about to press the button when he speaks up.

“Wait! Wait! You’re right, I helped get the ghost boy turned into a vampire.”

“What did you do?”

“The night the boy was turned, I released the vampires from the monster world and told them how they could lure them in.”

“You told the vampires to attack Tucker!’ Valerie realizes.

“Yes. I turned invisible and followed the vampires as they fought the ghost boy, and when I saw the opportunity, I grabbed him and flew deep into the woods. One of the vampires followed us, and I left the boy in the area. The vampire turned him and I created similar wounds on his body to cover up what happened and make sure that he wouldn’t be cured.”

Tears have formed in Jazz’s eyes and as much as she wants to wipe them away, she doesn’t. She doesn’t care about them right now.

“Why?”

“What?” Skulker asks.

“Why? Why did you do it? Why did you let Danny get turned?”

“Yeah, you call yourself the greatest hunter in the ghost zone. What could you gain from him being used by the Monster King?”

“The ghost boy is a thorn in the side of most of the ghosts in the ghost zone. As much as I’d like to capture him myself, him being turned into a vampire and being used by the Monster King gets him out of our way.”

Jazz turns away and wipes her eyes. She’s heard enough. Memories of that night had run through her mind as he spoke and even though that happened so many weeks ago, the pain is still fresh in her mind. To find out that it was all because of Skulker, it makes her angry and she wants to do something about it.

“Thanks, Skulker. You’ve been very helpful.”

“So now you’ll let me go?”

“No.”

Jazz aims the thermos at him and presses the button, slamming the cap on top of it. Then she puts the thermos on her belt and walks back to the board. Valerie looks at her as she follows her back, a little shocked at her actions.

“You said if Skulker answered your questions, you wouldn’t capture him.”

“I didn’t promise that. Besides, he made sure Danny got turned into a monster. I'm not gonna show him any sympathy.”

Valerie nods and gets on the board, flying off. She does her best to head back the way that they came, but just to be sure, she pulls up her GPS and navigates their way back to the portal in FentonWorks.

“What should we do when we get back?”

“Hmm?”

“When we get back to our world. Now that we have that information, what do you want to do when we get back?”

Jazz is quiet as she thinks about the answer. She doesn’t really know what she wants to do; it’s not like the information is gonna help Danny now. He’s already a vampire, and how would it help their parents?

“I don’t know. I just needed to find out how he got turned. But I don’t know how much it’s gonna help my parents.”

“So you’re gonna let them believe it was a freak accident while fighting vampires?”

Jazz sighs.

“I don’t know. I know telling them won’t make it any better or take the pain of knowing Danny’s a vampire away.”

Valerie nods.

They make it back to the FentonWorks portal after a few minutes and head through it. Jazz closes the portal and the two girls step off the board.

“Jasmine? How long have you been down here? And what are you wearing?”

Jazz looks towards the stairs and sees her dad standing there. He looks like he was coming back to the lab to work on something. She glances back at Valerie, who just shrugs in response.

“Valerie and I were looking for some answers, and I think you and mom should know what we found out.”


	21. Chapter 21

The ride to the other side of town is made in silence. Sam and Tucker don’t want to talk; the situation is awful enough as is. Neither one of them are feeling good enough to discuss anything, really.

In the back of both of their minds is Danny, and what happened to him. He’s not human anymore; that’s awful to think about, and as much as they both try to focus on anything else, it’s all they’ve been able to think about since they made the discovery. This isn’t like when Danny became half-ghost—he was still half-human then. He was still Danny Fenton; a new side of him had just come to light. But this? It feels like Danny’s being taken away from them, like, in a way, he’s being killed.

And they refuse to think about that. Thinking about that is accepting it.

The building crawls into their view as they get closer. The manor looks ominous and would normally send them in a different direction. Something about the place just seems creepy, even in a city infested with ghosts and monsters. It’s not a friendly place and everyone avoids it. The two teenagers have to fight the urge to turn around.

Sam jumps off the scooter as they arrive at the abandoned manor. She takes off towards the building, her uneasiness disappearing as she gets closer to the building. Just as she’s about to cross the doorway, Tucker pulls her back. She hadn’t even heard him keep up with her.

“Sam, don’t you think we should think about this?”

“Think about what? Danny’s in there and he needs us right now.”

“Yeah, but what if it’s dangerous?”

“Of course it’s dangerous, but it’s Danny. We need to take that risk, Tucker! Not to mention that we each have the antidote for him.”

He lets go of her hand and glances at the door.

“What if he’s too far gone?”

Sam wants to be angry at the question. She wants to ask him how he could say something like that; this is _Danny_ they’re talking about. But she knows why he asked. Danny hasn’t been the same for a long time. He's changed, possibly for the worse. And now he’s a vampire. Maybe he _is_ too far gone.

_How can I think like that?_

She does her best to brush the thought aside and focus on the present: Danny needs them.

“Well we won’t know if we don’t go inside.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Tucker, we need to at least try to see if we can help him! If we don’t, who will? And when?”

Tucker goes quiet and he doesn’t try to stop Sam again. She walks through the doorway and takes cautious steps as she looks around the room.

“Danny?”

There’s no response.

“Danny! It’s Sam!”

She can hear shuffling somewhere in the house. It’s coming from a different room but she can’t tell what room he’s in.

“Did you hear that?”

Sam jumps, having not heard Tucker walk in behind her. She puts a hand on her chest and shakes her head.

“I called his name and he didn’t respond.”

“He _did_ tell us not to look for him.”

“I know, but all we need to tell him is that we have the cure for him, and I’m sure he’ll let us administer it.” 

Tucker looks like he wants to object, but he doesn’t. He knows better than to argue with her on that. Or he’s letting her believe that there’s hope for Danny, hope that he wants to hold onto as well. 

The two of them stay quiet and a noise in another room cuts through the silence. It sounds like Danny. They check the room closest to them, and they see Danny in the corner, near the window. 

“Danny, hey—” 

“Sam? Tuck? I thought I told you guys to stay away from me.” 

“You did, but we have—” 

“Guys, please! I don’t know what I could do to you and I don’t want to—” Danny interrupts himself as he cries out in pain and holds his head in his hands. He looks like he’s trying to hold himself back, and it’s taking too much effort. Tucker and Sam rush towards Danny but he uses one arm to push them back. 

“Danny, just listen to us! We can help you!” 

The dark-haired boy doesn’t say anything but doesn’t push them away or leave. He’s still visibly trying to hold himself back from something, and the sight tugs at Sam’s heartstrings. 

“Danny, we know what happened to you,” Sam tells him. “We know you got turned into a vampire, and we know that’s why you’ve been acting weird since that night. And that’s what you tried to tell me earlier today.” 

“What?” Danny’s eyes widen. 

“We know. We figured it out a little while ago, and we had to tell your family—” 

“You told my family?!” 

“Yeah, but Danny—” 

Sam reaches a hand out to him, but then she and Tucker get knocked backwards. When the two of them get up and get themselves oriented again, Danny’s gone. 

“Great, he could be anywhere in these woods,” Tucker sighs. 

“Then we need to start looking for him if we want to administer the cure!” 

Sam runs out of the manor and looks around. Even if Danny’s already developed super speed, there would be signs of which direction he ran in. Footprints, broken branches, anything that would indicate Danny’s been through the area. 

“How do you think we’re gonna find him, Sam?” 

“I don’t know,” she says, running her hands through her hair. 

“Hell, we don’t even know if he’s still in the woods.” 

“No, he’s still here. He would never risk putting anyone in harm’s way like that.” 

Tucker nods. 

“So how do we find him?” 

“I don’t know, but I wish I did.” 

Sam doesn’t know where to go but in spite of that she picks a random direction. Tucker follows but he knows she doesn’t know where she’s heading. 

“Maybe we should take his advice and leave.” 

Sam’s had about enough of Tucker trying to play it safe today. Her fists clench and tears well up in her eyes as she turns to look at him. 

“Fine! Then just leave! Give up on him like you’ve been doing since we got here!” 

“Hey, I’m not giving up on Danny! I’m just trying to keep us both safe! Danny’s dangerous now!” 

“He was dangerous before, but that didn’t stop you from being friends with him!” 

“Don’t you get it? The second Danny was bitten by that vampire we lost him! I don’t want to lose my other best friend too!” 

Sam pauses. She doesn’t know how to respond to that, and she takes a second to wipe the tears from her eyes. Her anger dissipates and she starts to feel guilty. 

“We didn’t lose him, he just—” 

“But we kind of did, Sam! He hasn’t been himself since that night; you can’t say that isn’t true. He’s my best friend, and he’s your boyfriend, but if he loses control of himself, he could kill either one of us, not because he wants to, but because it’s who he is now. And frankly, I don’t think I’m willing to die because of that.” 

Sam nods. That’s an understandable view to take on it. But she can’t find it in her to agree with that. 

“I understand, Tuck.” 

“But you don’t feel the same?” He guesses. She nods. 

“I don’t care what the risks are, I have to try and help Danny however I can.” 

Tucker nods, then hands her his portion of the antidote. 

“For when you find Danny. I’m gonna head back to FentonWorks.” 

Sam nods and puts the antidote into her other pocket. They share a hug, and then Tucker leaves. Sam hesitates to continue one; she doesn’t know these woods that well, and she still doesn’t know where Danny is. 

Leaves rustle a few yards away from her and Sam prepares herself for the worst, but when Wulf crashes through the area. 

“Wulf!” 

“Sam!” 

Sam approaches him and both of them relax at the sight of their friends. She reaches up and strokes some of the fur near his head. 

“I’m looking for Danny. Do you think you could help me look for him?” 

“Kompreneble mi faros.” 

Sam smiles. Wulf turns and turns around, allowing Sam to get onto his back. When she’s secure he heads off, stopping sometimes to sniff the air. It doesn’t take long before he picks up a strong scent and he points in the direction before he heads in that direction. 

Danny comes into view after a few minutes. He’s on his knees, holding his head. Sam climbs off of Wulf’s back and thanks him. Then he runs off. Sam walks towards Danny, and he hears her. He looks up, then looks like he’s in pain and winces, looking away. 

“Danny, please listen to me!” 

“You need to get out of here, Sam!” 

“No!” 

“But I could kill you—” 

“I can prevent that from happening! Your parents made an antidote for you! They gave one to me, and one to Tucker. If you’d let me, I could give you the antidote and you should be cured by the morning.” 

Danny looks up at her again, this time hope in his eyes. It’s clear to see the pain in his expression; she guesses that it must’ve been taking a lot of effort to keep himself clinging to his humanity. He’s about to stand and let her inject the antidote into him, but in the split second where he relaxes and lets his guard down. 

And that’s when the virus takes over. 

* * * 

Tucker makes it back to FentonWorks as the sun’s going down. He sets his scooter against the front steps and heads up, knocking on the door. Almost immediately after the door opens. 

“Oh good, you’re here! I was about to go looking for you.” 

“Um, hey, Jazz.” 

“Come on in, Valerie and I have to tell you something pretty important.” 

“Okay. Where’d you get the suit?” 

“Valerie. Speaking of which, she’s in the kitchen with my parents. Come on.” 

Tucker follows Jazz as she leads him to the kitchen, taking a seat at the table. Out of everyone, he’s the one that’s the least somber. 

“So what are we doing here?” 

“Valerie and I found out how and why Danny got turned.” 


	22. Chapter 22

Danny cries out in pain and curls into a ball. It doesn’t matter how hard he fights; it’s too late now. The second he stopped fighting is when he lost. The vampire virus fought to take over not only his body, but his mind. Now it was taking over his thoughts and changing everything he thought about. He can only focus on Sam and the scent of her blood rushing through her.

“Danny!”

Panic courses through Sam and all she can think about is his well-being. She knows that he’s turning, and she needs more than anything to turn him back to normal. Sam kneels beside him and remembers all too late about the antidote. She reaches into her pocket, hands fumbling as she does so. She drops one and almost loses it in the leaves that litter the ground. Sam pushes the leaves aside and grabs the antidote again, about to needle on the end and inject it into Danny when she notices movement.

She jumps back at what she sees; Danny’s pale and his irises have turned a rich red color. Fangs just barely poke out of his mouth as his breathing evens out and he stands. Sam puts a few feet between them even though she knows she needs to inject the antidote into him.

_He looks so different._

“Danny?”

He doesn’t respond yet. Danny looks at his skin and takes steady breaths. An eerie calm has washed over him and even he notices it. Then the ghost of a smile appears on his face and he looks at Sam. She hates the feeling she gets when his eyes meet hers.

The way he looks now, it’s like he’s not even the same person. The vampire standing a few feet away from her isn’t Danny; he can’t be. Danny never looked like a killer, never looked like he could so easily drain the life out of someone. This person, this _monster_ , can’t be Danny. Danny is warm and full of life, and he helps people. So who’s this?

“I’m alright, Sam.”

The tone of his voice sends shivers down her spine. It sounds like Danny, but it doesn’t at the same time. It almost sounds like someone else and she’s scared of whoever that is. All the friendliness and good intentions and _life_ is gone now.

Danny takes a step towards her and Sam instinctively takes a step back. She grips the antidote a little tighter, careful not to break the vial. Every fiber in her being is screaming for her to run, leaving him behind. She has to fight just to keep herself frozen in place.

“How—how are you feeling?” She asks.

“Better than ever. Ever since I was bitten, I’ve had to keep fighting to stop myself from turning and cling to my humanity. I didn’t want to become a killer, but I just wanted the pain to stop. And then I let go. It was an accident, but as soon as I did all the pain went away and I felt so much better than I ever have.”

He _does_ seem awfully relaxed, but Sam knows that isn’t Danny. She needs to figure out how to inject him with the antidote, but also at the same time she doesn’t want him to come near her. It’s a battle and she doesn’t know what side to take. Danny’s parents would kill her if they found out that she didn’t return him to normal, but could she bring herself to go near Danny?

 _God, I’m treating him like a monster_ , she thinks. In truth, he _is_ a monster, but this is Danny. Even now, it’s difficult to see him as one.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better, but—”

“You know, you should become a vampire too.”

“What?!”

“I know how it may sound to you, but just think about it. We’d be together forever, and neither one of us would be put into danger ever again.”

Sam feels shocked at the proposal. Her? A vampire? She won’t entertain the idea.

“But—but what about our families? What about Tucker, and the rest of our friends? Do you really want the two of us to be murderers for the rest of time?”

“You didn’t worry about any of that when I became half-ghost.”

“Becoming half-ghost didn’t make you into a murderous monster, and you didn’t try to convince me to become half-ghost too! Think about it! This isn’t who you are, Danny.”

“It’s not who I am?”

Danny takes a few steps towards Sam and she takes some steps back to keep the distance between them.

“Who I am—or used to be—is a half-human, half-ghost _freak_ who risked his life to save this damn city from ghosts and monsters every damn day, and what did that get me in return?”

He keeps walking towards her and Sam keeps taking steps back. Soon her back hits a tree and she can’t move.

“I got hunted by my friends and family, targeted by a rich Wisconsin asshole that has the hots for my mom, tracked down multiple times by the guys in white, and beaten up by every fucking ghost I had to put back in the ghost zone. But now, that’s all changed and I won’t have to go through any of that again. I won’t let anyone treat me like that again, and if you join me, you won’t have to go through any of that again either.”

Sam shakes her head.

“But the Monster King just wanted something like this to happen to you, didn’t he? Just so he could use you for his own gain?”

“I don’t see the Monster King here, and I can’t hear him telling me what to do.”

A blush crosses Sam’s face as Danny stands close to her, almost pinning her to the tree. Sam shuts up after that and she knows she has to work quickly if she wants to cure Danny. She starts lifting the vial and reaches for the needle when Danny grabs her wrist. It’s not tight enough to cause pain but it’s enough to keep her trapped in his grip.

“Let go of the antidote, Sam.”

“No.”

“Let it go, Sam. I don’t want to be cured.”

“No, Danny! Please, just let me—”

“Let. It. Go. I don’t want to go back to the way I was before. Being a vampire is a lot more freeing that I realized.”

Danny squeezes her wrist and Sam lets out a cry of pain. Just a little bit harder and he’d easily break her wrist. She doesn’t have any other options and she drops the vial. Sam hears glass breaking, and glancing down she sees that Danny stepped on it. 

_Just down to the one._

At least there’s hope. If Danny would just let go of her wrist, she’d have a chance to cure him.

“Alright, Danny, let’s talk about this—”

“Give me the other one too,” he instructs.

Sam hesitates for a second, not wanting to let go of the only hope she had of getting Danny back to normal. But before he can tell her again, she uses her free hand to reach into her pocket and gives him the second vial.

Danny takes it and without much effort breaks the vial. He opens his hand and lets the shards fall to the ground, wiping his hand on his jeans. He keeps Sam’s wrist in his hand but he relaxes his grip.

No more hope.

Danny places Sam’s hand against his cheek and places his hand over it; she’s shocked at how cold his skin became in just a few minutes. The anger and determination left his expression, and he looks at her with a mixture of love and something that Sam can only guess is hunger, or another expression that his victims see before he goes in for the kill.

“You know, I thought you’d _want_ to become a vampire.”

“Danny, please, I—”

“After all, you did describe yourself as a creature of the night.”

“I’m goth, I was being dramatic! Danny, please, I don’t want to become a vampire—I don’t want to have to kill innocent people in order to survive, and I don’t want to live forever!”

“Sam, as soon as you let the virus take over, those worries are gonna disappear. You’ll be open to the idea, and we’ll be together. I don’t want to lose you, and I know you don’t either.”

“The second the virus took over, I lost you.”

Danny moves his hand to stroke her cheek, his eyes softening. He leans in to kiss her and Sam accepts it. In this moment it’s like he’s who he used to be. He pulls back a few seconds later and rests his forehead on hers.

“I love you, Sam.”

“I love you too, Danny. So much.”

Danny smiles and leans in for a kiss, but Sam looks away. Then she feels his breath on her neck and Danny holding her in place and she realizes her mistake. It’s too late to try and reason with him.

Danny’s fangs sink into her skin and Sam’s blood hits his taste buds.

Pain shoots through her neck and it travels to the rest of her body. She can feel Danny’s fangs in her neck, drinking her blood. She can feel the fluid travelling back to her neck as he keeps on drinking.

Sam tries to push Danny off of her, but she can’t. His hands move to hold her close to him and her hands linger on the tree, trying to grab onto it. She’s successful; at least partly. She’s able to break off pieces of the tree and without hesitation she shoves them into Danny’s stomach.

He pulls back, tearing the skin around the wound as he does. More pain shoots through Sam’s body but she doesn’t let that stop her. She’s disoriented and her head feels fuzzy, but she has to get away.

“Sam!”

Tucker’s voice cuts through the area and she’s never been so happy to see him. Sam rushes towards his direction while Danny’s busy pulling the pieces of bark out of his stomach. The wounds heal almost as soon as he removes the bark.

Sam stumbles and lands on her knees in front of Tucker and pulls her closer to him. His free hand grabs a garlic bomb from his belt and steps in front of Sam.

“Danny, I really don’t want to do this, but I’ll use a garlic bomb,” Tucker says to Danny. Concern and sadness litters his face, while Danny’s expression is strangely calm.

“Relax. I was just trying to—”

“I can see what you were trying to do. But man, we’re your friends! None of us want to be vampires; you certainly didn’t want to be one before you turned!”

Danny doesn’t say anything, and nothing flashes in his eyes like Tucker thought would happen; his best friend just stands there, looking completely inhuman. Tucker grips the garlic bomb tighter.

“Alright, just, don’t come any closer. I’m gonna take Sam to get cleaned up and then we’ll be back and give you the antidote.”

Danny shakes his head and he disappears before Tucker’s eyes. Tucker does his best not to freak out and helps Sam up. She puts a hand to the wound on her neck; he doesn’t need to ask what happened. It’s clear what happened.

“Come on, Wulf will bring us back to the street.”

Tucker helps Sam walk back to the clearing where he’d asked Wulf to stay. A bad feeling started growing in Tucker’s gut and he knew they had to get Danny back to normal soon.

“You’re never gonna guess what I found out,” he tells Sam.

“What?”

Her voice is quiet and sounds like she’s about to pass out. Tucker needs to make this quick.

“Skulker found out about the Monster King and he’s the one that released the vampires that turned Danny.”

Sam’s eyes widen at the news and she tries to walk faster. She’s unsuccessful. Wulf comes into view and he walks over to meet them.

“Sam?” He asks.

“Wulf, we need to head to FentonWorks, now!”

He nods and picks Sam up. She passes out as soon as he does and Tucker climbs onto Wulf’s back. A second later, the wolf rushes out of the woods and into town. Tucker gives him the directions to FentonWorks. When they arrive Tucker climbs off of him and takes Sam, taking her arm and wrapping it over his shoulder to hold her up. Then he rushes to the front door.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So when I last updated I realized I wasn't in a good headspace and I just needed to take a break from writing. I wanted to come back last month, but I still wasn't ready to continue writing. Anyway, I'm back now and I'll be continuing the story until it's finished. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and the story overall. And thank you so much for reading!

As soon as Tucker gets through the front door, Sam gets taken from him and is rushed down to the lab. There’s a buzz in the house, people are talking, yet Tucker can’t make out what anyone’s saying. The blood is roaring in his ears despite not having an elevated heart-rate.

For now, his gaze is on Sam. The blood flowing from her wound has slowed, but that doesn’t make him feel better. The Fentons start to show him and Jazz towards the door so they can help her, yet he doesn’t move. He can’t.

_I’ve already lost one of my best friends today, I can’t lose the other one too. ___

__Someone tugs on his shirt and he notices Jazz next to him. She tugs him along as she heads up the stairs and he doesn’t fight it. The next thing he knows he’s sitting at the kitchen table and Valerie sets a glass of water in front of him. Just then he notices that he can hear one of them talking, although it’s still faint._ _

__“You should really drink something.”_ _

__But he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t need to drink water._ _

__“C’mon, Tuck,” Valerie mutters as she pushes the glass closer to him._ _

__“I don’t need water.”_ _

__Jazz and Val share a look, and she pushes the glass away._ _

__“Alright. Then what do you need?”_ _

__Tucker doesn’t answer at first; he doesn’t know quite yet. Or maybe he does and he can’t put it into words. Or maybe he can and he doesn’t want to. Because if he does, then it makes what happened real and that’s the last thing he wants. All he wants is for everything that happened since that awful night with the vampires in the woods to be a nightmare._ _

__“I need Sam to be alright,” he mumbles loud enough for the two of them to hear._ _

__“She’s gonna be alright, my parents are pretty good at patching people up.”_ _

__“No, that’s not what I’m talking about—”_ _

__“She’s probably gonna wake up in the morning, too.”_ _

__He shakes his head. She wasn’t listening to him._ _

__“Jazz—”_ _

__“Jazz, he’s trying to tell you something—”_ _

__“And we’re gonna find Danny too—”_ _

__“Jazz, would you shut up!?” Tucker yells as he stands. Before he felt numb, but not now; anger was rushing through him and he couldn’t make it stop._ _

__Jazz and Val share another look, this one filled with concern and shock._ _

__“I’m not worried about Sam being hurt, or when she’s gonna wake up, or even about finding Danny! Frankly, right now I couldn’t care about him or where he is or _what _he is, because he’s the one that bit her!”___ _

____Silence falls over the room as the shock of the statement sets in. It doesn’t stop Tucker from ranting._ _ _ _

____“I’m fucking terrified that after this, me and Danny and Sam are never gonna be the same! That Sam’s never gonna be her goth, strong, confident self again; that this whole ‘Danny being a vampire’ shit is gonna completely change her! I’m scared that all of this, even after we find Danny and turn him back to normal, none of us will ever recover!_ _ _ _

____“It’s not easy having to live with those thoughts—that this whole thing is gonna drive a wedge between all of us! Danny and Sam are some of the most important people in my life, you know! If none of us can get through this and be alright, I don’t—I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.”_ _ _ _

____His anger subsides, and all Tucker can feel is worry, and a sinking feeling in his stomach. He worries about the three of them going their separate ways more than he would like to admit, and it’s starting to set in._ _ _ _

____“Tucker, c’mon, you three aren’t gonna separate after this,” Val says as she lays a hand on his shoulder._ _ _ _

____“But how do any of us know that? We’ve never had to go through something like this before. Sam and I are used to dealing with him being half-ghost, and everything that happened regarding ghosts we’ve been able to bounce back from._ _ _ _

____“But that’s starting to get harder and harder, and this is something we’ve never encountered before, and way more serious, too. The damage from this is gonna last a lot longer than usual, and I don’t know if it’ll be worth it to stick around while we try to heal from it.”_ _ _ _

____Valerie and Jazz don’t say anything else. Tucker makes an excellent point, and as much as both of them want to insist that it just isn’t true, they know that they can’t._ _ _ _

____And all of them hate it._ _ _ _

____* * *_ _ _ _

____Sam doesn’t wake up until the next morning. Until then, she’s trapped in a dream._ _ _ _

____She’s in the woods again, but this time she’s being hunted. She doesn’t have to turn around to know it’s Danny that’s chasing her. Sam hates how scared she is but she can’t bring herself to turn around and face him. Not now._ _ _ _

____Her legs ache and her throat is starting to burn like she’s been running for hours; she can’t keep running much longer. She’ll need to give up soon, and if she does Danny will catch up. She can’t let that happen._ _ _ _

____The ground crunches beneath her feet with every step she takes. Sam would notice the noise if her heart wasn’t pounding in her ears and deafening everything else around her. A sense of dread bubbles up in her stomach as she starts to slow and she knows that Danny’s gaining on her. Even then, she doesn’t turn around or stop._ _ _ _

____Finally, as soon as it feels like her legs are about to fail her, Sam sees a light in the distance. Just several more yards and she’ll be out of the woods and basking in sunlight._ _ _ _

____Just a little further and she’ll be free._ _ _ _

____Then she trips._ _ _ _

____Sam hits the ground and it feels like the wind is knocked out of her. The blood is still roaring in her ears but she can hear Danny behind her. His steps slow as he reaches her and fear courses through her body. It almost paralyzes her but she’s able to turn to look at him._ _ _ _

____Danny looks close to his normal self. He’s not standing in some sort of intimidating way, and he has a smile on his face. It’s his eyes and the look inside of them that froze her to the ground._ _ _ _

____His eyes are a rich crimson color, and he’s looking at her like he can’t wait to suck the life out of her. The worst part is that he could so and she wouldn’t be able to stop him._ _ _ _

____“Danny—”_ _ _ _

____She doesn’t have time to finish as he grabs her wrists and pulls her to her feet. He plants a kiss on her wrist, then he sinks his fangs into her skin._ _ _ _

____Everything goes black, but the pain lingers._ _ _ _

____Sam’s able to open her eyes early the next morning. It’s difficult for her to get any more sleep, considering the pain she’s in. She reaches a hand up to her neck and feels the bandages wrapped around it. The memories of the previous night come flooding back to her._ _ _ _

_____Danny bit me. ____ _ _ _

______It’s a tough thing to have to reconcile. Her boyfriend, Danny Fenton, is a vampire now, and she had distracted him long enough for the vampire virus to completely take over. Then he’d tried to convince her to let him turn her into a vampire, and he bit her, all the while she tried to convince him to take the cure._ _ _ _ _ _

______Chills run through her, which doesn’t help the pain in her wound. She isn’t sure if she can even talk, the pain is too great. As she starts to sit up she notices she’s on a medical bed in the Fenton’s lab. Nothing seems out of the ordinary until she notices Danny standing there._ _ _ _ _ _

_______No, no. This has to be a dream. ____ _ _ _ _ _

________“Hey, Sam.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________She shakes her head and closes her eyes. He—he wouldn’t be here, his parents had put in security measures to prevent monsters from entering the lab. This needs to be a dream._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You’re—you’re not here,” she whispers to herself._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________She doesn’t hear him make his way over to her and only notices him when she feels his hand cupping her cheek. Sam jumps and her eyes snap open._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You can relax, Sam. I’m not gonna drink your blood again.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Then—then why are you here?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“To ask you to come with me again.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sam shut her eyes; she’s starting to consider the idea, and she knows that’s because of his new powers. Before he can react she reaches over and sets off an alarm which alerts the rest of the household. The slight smile on Danny’s face fades and in a second he disappears from the lab._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________* * *_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Danny keeps to the shadows as he walks away from FentonWorks, the alarm still sounding through the neighborhood._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________The neighbors are gonna hate that. ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________A feeling of disappointment shoots through him. It’s not difficult for him to figure out why Sam refused his offer; she doesn’t want to be a vampire. When he was human, he would understand that. But now, as a vampire, he can’t imagine wanting to be anything else. He feels more powerful than before, more skilled and focused. The pain he felt while fighting had disappeared too._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

___________I’ll convince her to join me at some point _, he promises himself.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He’s about to turn a corner before feeling another presence in the area. It takes seconds for him to realize it’s another vampire. Danny turns to face them._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The other vampires look like something out of an 18th century era vampire film: flowy white shirts under old-fashioned black coats and knee-high boots. If they want to disguise themselves, they aren’t doing a good job._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Are you the ghost boy?” One of them asks._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Danny’s about to ask who wants to know, but it dawns on him that they must be lackeys for the Monster King. Now that he’s a monster himself, he supposes that he should go meet him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“I’m a vampire now, but yeah, that’s me.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________One of the vampires smirk and the other motions for him to follow._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Come with us.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________They turn to leave and Danny follows. The leader almost looks surprised, but they continue on._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Hours later, Danny is being led into the castle of the Monster King. If he’d still been human, he would’ve dreaded this journey. He’d seen this place in his nightmares while he was still trying to cling to his humanity. Back then he was afraid of it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He isn’t scared now._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____________I never thought I would see this place in person. ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The vampires lead him through a maze of hallways and long corridors, each one seeming longer than the last. Danny doesn’t have time to take in all the details, all the small accents on the darkly-painted walls and the images of gruesome horror dotting the walls._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________They reach the end of the final corridor and the vampires stop at the door. It looks more official and royal than all the others they had passed through so far. The wood is one that Danny isn’t familiar with—he doesn’t think that it’s even made in the human world— and blood colored jewels are crested into it. As he takes a step closer he sees the depictions of agony carved into the wood._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“The King certainly knows what he’s about,” Danny mumbles._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The vampires say nothing and knock on the door. They step back, but Danny doesn’t do the same. One of them grabs his arm and pulls him back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Something booms, and the entirety of the hallway shakes. Danny can’t make out what’s said, if anything is said, and is surprised when the door opens and he’s shoved inside.  
Danny catches himself and growls as he glares at the door. A booming voice catches his attention and he remembers where he is and what he’s doing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“The ghost boy, I presume.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Danny expects to turn and finally see the true form of the Monster King. Instead, he sees the vague outline shrouded by a dark, dense fog, towering high above him. The King’s eyes are a clear, penetrating red, and Danny feels like he can see right through him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Yes, I am.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The red eyes narrow, and Danny realizes maybe he should’ve addressed him properly._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Do you know why you’re here?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Danny nods._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“I’ve heard that you think I can help you and your kingdom.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The King nods._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“I wish to expand my empire into the human realm, but my armies keep being stopped by your pestering family. And you, while you were in your human form. But now, seeing as you have become one of my subjects, and given your connection and knowledge of your family, I believe with your help there will be nothing stopping us.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Danny nods, a smirk forming on his face._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Just let me handle my family; you and your armies will take over the human world soon enough.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	24. Chapter 24

Jack and Madeline work in silence, neither being in the mood to talk.

Maddie fills another syringe with a dose of the antidote. Upon hearing that Danny had destroyed both of the doses they’d given to Sam and Tucker, she felt a rush of emotions. Most of them something akin to grief. She remembered crying so hard she couldn’t breathe and not knowing if she would be able to stop.

Now she can’t force herself to cry. The tear tracks have dried on her face and she’s stopped sniffling. All she can do to make sure she doesn’t fall apart completely is make more of the antidote.

Memories come flooding back to her of Danny: the day he finally revealed he was Danny Phantom, his first day of high school, his first day of kindergarten. And the very first time she held him in her arms. She takes a step back and wipes her eyes with the back of her hands as she tears up again.

_I can’t fight my own son._

Jack looks over when he notices that she’s stopped working. He doesn’t say a word as he walks over—there’s no need to ask what’s bothering her. He already knows.

Madeline simply glances at him before sinking into his arms. His shoulder muffles her sobs, but they’re still audible throughout the lab. Jack does nothing, says nothing, and just holds her to him while she sheds enough tears for both of them.

Minutes pass before Maddie can pull away and catch her breath. She keeps her gaze low as she wipes her eyes once again. Then, without another word, steps back to the table and continues working. Only one thought runs through her head, one goal that keeps her going through her grief:

_I have to get my son back._

* * *

“Do you wanna explain your master plan for getting your parents out of our way?"

Danny keeps his gaze out the window and focuses on the darkened sky looming over the forest. He can feel the other vampires’ gaze on the back of his head but he doesn’t lose his composure.

“My parents and sister are monster hunters. So are our friends. All we’re gonna have to do is launch a handful of attacks spread far enough out that we’ll overwhelm them. Once that’s done, they won’t be able to stop us, and the King will be able to take over the human world.”

The vampires glance at one another; the plan makes sense.

“You’ve thought about this very well in such a short amount of time,” one comments.

Danny shrugs.

“I just know my family inside and out.”

“And what about those friends you mentioned?”

“Like the back of my hand.”

“So you’re not gonna let your feelings towards them stop our plans, right?”

Danny hasn’t moved, but he still feels like he’s stopped in his tracks. He hasn’t thought much about Tucker and Valerie, or Sam, since he arrived in the castle. Truth be told, he’d avoided thinking about it up until now.

He’s a vampire now and his loyalties lie with the Monster King; that’s where he belongs now. But his feelings about his friends haven’t just gone away or changed. Tucker’s still his best friend, and Valerie’s someone he trusts. And then Sam. He’s still in love with her, that never changed for a second.

And yet he doesn’t know if he can allow them to be harmed by his new allies.

“Ghost boy.”

The sharp tone from the others catches his attention and he looks over at them.

“You’re not having second thoughts now, are you?”

“Of course not!” Danny hisses.

“Then you won’t let them stop us, right?”

“That’s right.”

But in the back of his mind, he isn’t sure he means that.

A week later, an army of monsters is prepared to head into the human world. They’ve been ordered to follow Danny’s plan. As for what’s to happen to his family and friends once they’ve been defeated, he doesn’t know. He hopes some of the monsters will have mercy on them.

Maybe then Sam won’t object to him turning her, if it’s the only thing that’ll spare her life.

Danny tries not to think too much about it, and instead waits to hear when the troops have gone to their designated locations. So far everything’s gone according to his proposed plan. Now all they have to do is wait, and then they can strike.

Hours pass, but there’s no word from the troops. The soldiers start getting restless and Danny wonders what’s causing the holdup.

“We should be getting out of her by now,” Danny mumbles.

“So what’s taking so long?”

“I don’t know.”

Just moments later they understand why things haven’t gone according to plan.

“We’ve received word that the Fentons never arrived at our troop’s locations,” a general informs them.”

The rest of the army murmurs amongst themselves while the vampires turn their attention to Danny.

“What now, ghost boy?” One snarls.

“Relax! This means that all of them are gonna attack us together! We can still overwhelm them and take them down—we just need to adapt to it.”

The others nod and the general tries to focus the troops. Danny starts to head into the castle, but one of the vampires grabs his wrist.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Heading inside; if they think I’m in danger there, my family’s bound to get close enough to overtake.”

The vampires nod and let go of his hand, then Danny makes his way inside.

* * *

Madeline and Jack keep their gazes on the road ahead of them. There’s an uncomfortable silence in the assault RV and none of the teenagers can look each other in the eye.  
The parents, however, don’t seem to mind.

The plan runs through their head: Jack and Maddie are responsible for distracting the monster armies. Then Jazz and Val take over, and Sam and Tucker after that. But until then, Jack and Maddie need to cause a distraction.

“Are you sure Danny’s gonna be there?” Sam asks from the back of the RV.

“No, not really. But if he’s not there, then us being there should bring him around,” Jack explains.

The teenagers glance between one another. Jack is usually confident and upbeat about these sorts of things. Not this time.

Minutes later they start to see a dark castle appear on the horizon. 

They’re getting closer. 

The teenagers prepare themselves to leave the RV. Valerie makes sure her board is reinforced enough to support the weight of three additional people. She just wants to focus on anything other than what’s in front of them.

“They’re in sight,” Maddie tells the others. She, of course, is referring to the monster army in front of the castle.

The air in the RV chills and the teenagers unbuckle their seatbelts. None of them are really ready for this, but they don’t have a choice.

“Be safe out there,” Maddie tells them.

“You too, mom.”

The woman glances back at her daughter and the ghost of a smile crosses her face. Then the four teens leave and the adults are left alone. 

“Ready?” Jack asks her.

She nods and places a hand over his.

“Let’s get our son back.”

He nods, then gains speed. The RV gets dangerously close to the first line of monsters, and just as they hoped, the monsters follow them. Maddie looks in the side mirror, but all she can see are the monsters behind them, and she’s left to hope that the teenagers will be successful.

* * *

Valerie has trouble balancing the board with three more people on it, but she manages to keep them all afloat above the army of monsters beneath them. From where they are, they can see the RV driving away from where they’re flying, and a small portion of the monsters follow them.

But it’s not enough.

Witches from below use their magic to latch onto the hoverboard, and there’s nothing Val can do before the four of them are sent falling to the ground. The impact paralyzes them, and none of them can recover fast enough to protect themselves.

Just as Valerie reaches for one of her smoke bombs, a sonic blast stuns the monsters surrounding them. They look up and are all surprised to see Ember McClain hovering above them.

“Did you just...help us?” Jazz asks her.

“Yeah, I did.”

“But—why?”

Ember sends another blast to the crowd before looking back at them.

“We heard about this Monster King and what he plans on doing to the human world, and we’re gonna make sure that doesn’t happen!”

“What do you mean ‘we?’”

Before Ember can answer, Johnny and Kitty ride by, circling the group. Sam and Tucker get up, getting Johnny to stop long enough so they can get on.

“We need to get inside the castle!” Tucker instructs him. 

Johnny nods and they ride in that direction.

“Wait, so ghosts care about the human world getting taken over?” Sam asks over the roar of the bike.

“Uh, duh! Ghosts really like coming to the human world and messing around!”

“And some like to take over the world themselves,” Kitty explains. “So there’s not a chance they’re gonna let the monsters beat them to it!”

“How did you even find out about this?”

“Skulker, he was talking about some Monster King thing, and how he handed the ghost boy to his cronies. We started eavesdropping and put the pieces together,” Johnny tells them.

They reach the entrance to the castle, about to ride in, but Johnny and Kitty get distracted. 

“Ride’s over, humans! Gotta help the other ghosts!”

Sam and Tucker get off the bike and rush inside without another word. 

A scream that sounds a lot like Danny’s rings out and they don’t hesitate to change their direction. The sound leads them into a large room, far away from any exits, but neither of them realize it until the heavy door slams shut behind them.

Sam and Tucker turn around, panic coursing through them when they see Danny standing there. His eyes are red and fangs are visible, which make Sam freeze in her spot and cause the wound in her neck to throb.

“You know, it’s real flattering that the two of you would so easily risk your lives to save me even though I’m capable of killing you both. But hopefully it’s not gonna have to come to that.”


	25. Chapter 25

Sam and Tucker start backing away from Danny, but they notice that there's no way for them to escape. They share a knowing glance as they reach the other wall.

_There's no escaping this._

"Danny, come on—this isn't you," Tucker says as he tries to reason with him.

Danny shakes his head, the look in his eyes being unrecognizable. Of course, he isn't human, but it's still difficult for him to consider his best friend to be a monster.

"What, did you miss when I got turned into a vampire a couple of months back?" He scoffs. "This is who I've been for a while, whether you like it or not."

"Well, I don't like it. Like, _really_ don't like it!"

The dark-haired boy shrugs his shoulders and glances off to the side. He moves a hand to run through his hair as if there's nothing serious about the situation.

"It's not that bad, honestly. I'm stronger and faster than before, and more agile. Truth be told, I feel a lot better than I have for a while now. Once I quit fighting, the pain went away and I felt more powerful than ever."

"But it isn't _you_ , Danny!" Sam reminds him. "You're not supposed to be a vampire—you're a half-ghost superhero, and you save people from ghosts that want to take over the world! You're Danny Fenton, and all you want to do is save people, and become an astronaut. But most of all, you're our best friend!"

Something flashes in Danny's eyes, but it disappears too quickly for Sam and Tucker to decipher what it is. Part of Sam hopes that it's Danny's conscience, a part of him that's been suppressed rising to the surface, and that it'll chip away at his new persona.

"Guys, I don't want to do this. It's just easier if you give up and join us—then I might be able to protect you."

Tucker and Sam glance at each other.

"What do you mean, you can protect us?" Tucker asks.

A mischievous glint appears in his eyes, and a hopeful smirk tugs at his lips. It takes seconds for Sam to understand what he means—it's the thing she hasn't been able to quit thinking about.

"He means he can turn us into monsters too."

Tucker's eyes widen as he looks between Sam and Danny. The thought of becoming...like him, to put it lightly, isn't one that he wants to consider.

_Suddenly I know how Sam must've felt the other night._

"But—no, Danny, please don't say that," Sam asks him.

His expression softens, and he knows that it'll take a little convincing to get them to agree with him. He's confident that he can change their minds, however.

"Guys, you're my best friends, and I love you both, but if anyone catches you with me and you're still human, I won't be able to protect you. And I don't want either of you to die. Please just consider the idea."

Sam doesn't need to think about it; although she may be goth and say that she's a creature of the night, there's something about being human that she doesn't want to give up. It's mostly the _being human_ part.

"Danny, I don't know—"

"I know it's not the most appealing idea, but how else can we make it out of this alright? This way we'd still be together."

Sam shakes her head immediately. The wound on her neck throbs as a reminder of what he did to her.

"There's another way, Danny. Your parents made a cure for you."

"I don't want it."

"Well we're not turning into vampires!" Tucker tells him.

The smirk on Danny's face falters, and the realization sets in that they're not going to change their minds. At least, not on their own.

"Well I'm not gonna let either of you die! So I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make sure you make it out!"

Tucker and Sam duck out of the way as Danny lunges at them. The room is small, so there isn't much room to dodge, and all of them know it. Tucker almost freezes when he sees how Danny looks at them, as if they're something to rip into and tear apart.

Sam, however, isn't too surprised by the expression. She's seen something similar to it in her dreams since the night he bit her. Which is why she doesn't linger on his expression and jumps out of the way when he goes for her.

Tucker isn't so fortunate.

He gets distracted by the look, and when Danny goes for him, he hesitates to move. Instead he goes to grab the vial of the antidote, but again, he isn't quick enough. Danny takes the opportunity to grab him and he grabs the vial of the antidote, then throws it against the wall. The vial breaks on impact. Neither of them pay much attention to it. Tucker doesn't have enough strength to break out of Danny's grip.

Sam knows she has to do something. While the two boys are fighting one another, she spots pieces of the broken vial, and an idea pops into her head. As Danny's about to bite into Tucker's neck, glass shattering catches their attention and the two of them turn to look at where the sound came from.

The two of them see Sam holding pieces of glass against a wall, seemingly having just smashed her own vial of the antidote.

"I'll let you turn me if you step away from him!"

Danny moves his jaws away from Tucker's neck and stands up straight. Tucker allows himself to breathe and let relief flow through him, but then the shock of what she said sets in, and he stiffens again.

"Fine, okay? I'll stop fighting, and I'll let you turn me, and we can be together. See, I already got rid of the antidote, so I can't cure you."

"Sam!" Tucker protests.

"Shut up Tucker!"

"You can't be serious!"

" _Shut up_ , Tucker!"

"Do you even know—"

"Tucker, enough! Aren't you sick of the fighting and the worrying, and the goddamn fear that something's gonna happen to him, or to us?! At least this way we know we're all gonna be fine!"

Tucker can't find anything to say, shock coursing through him. He wants to beg Sam to change her mind but the words refuse to leave his mouth.

_How can she want this?_

Danny lets go of Tucker and moves over to Sam. Tuck feels frozen to his spot, unable to do anything to help her. Like someone cast a spell on him to keep him from interfering.

"I knew you'd see my side eventually," he mumbles to Sam.

She closes her eyes and nods in defeat. It's like she's truly given up on ever turning him human again. She tilts her head back as Danny unwraps the bandages around her neck in a gentle manner, then cups his cheeks.

"I love you, Danny."

"I love you too, Sam."

She allows a small smile to cross her face before pulling him into a kiss. He returns it, and his hands go to rest on her waist. Moments later he pulls back, fangs out, and hovers over the old wound on her neck. He can sense her heart racing but she doesn't stop him and he moves in closer.

As soon as Sam feels Danny's fangs on her neck, she stabs the antidote into his back, right about where his heart is. She makes sure to keep the vial there for a few seconds before pulling it out.

When she stabs the vial into him, Danny feels pain in his back. The pain soon spreads to the rest of his body and he can barely pull himself away from Sam to see what she did to him. His fangs retract involuntarily when he notices the vial in her hand. His back hits the wall on the other side of the room and his eyes close as he slides down to the floor, teeth grit. The pain had reached the rest of his body now.

Tucker can move once more, and the first thing he does is check on Sam.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" She tells him. Then they both rush over to Danny, who's writhing from the pain.

"You never wanted him to turn you, did you?"

"Duh! You honestly thought I wanted to be a vampire?"

"Well you're goth! You—"

"Okay, okay! But I never meant literally!"

"And what about the antidote? You smashed yours!"

Sam shakes her head.

"No, I didn't, I just grabbed the pieces from your vial and made him believe I got rid of it."

They both turn their attention back to Danny. He's still now, and his eyes are still closed. His breathing is soft, his chest barely rising and falling. For a moment Sam worries that the antidote may have killed him.

"He's okay, isn't he?" She asks Tucker.

"He's gotta be—his parents wouldn't make something that kills him."

Sam nods, but doubts still linger in her mind.

Then Danny's eyes flutter open.

"Hey...guys," he murmurs.

"Danny!"

Sam and Tucker pull him into a group hug, which wakes Danny up. He wraps his arms around the two of them and smiles when he pulls back.

"Man, it's good to be back to normal."

"It's even better for us."

Danny grins, then notices the wound on Sam's neck. He sits up a bit and his smile fades as he brushes a finger over it.

"Sam, I'm so sorry—"

"Hey, don't worry about it. You weren't yourself when it happened."

"But I—"

"It's okay," she tells him again, kissing his cheek.

A crash coming from outside catches their attention, and all three teenagers rush to the window to see what happened.

"The assault RV!"

From the window, the three of them see the RV crashed into a section of the cast iron fence.

"Your parents are in there—they're supposed to be a distraction!"

Danny grits his teeth and clenches his fists before taking a few steps away from the window. Sam and Tucker turn to him.

"Can you transform back into Danny Phantom?"

"We'll see."

And just seconds later, a flash of white fills the room, followed by a transformed Danny.

"Looks like I'm back to normal. Now I think it's about time to end this!"


	26. Chapter 26

It’s been minutes since the RV crashed. The inside has gone dead and darkened, and through the window, Jack and Madeline’s unconscious bodies could be seen. They didn’t stir even as the monsters chasing them began to overtake the vehicle.

Jazz and Valerie saw the crash, but they’re still too caught up with the monsters surrounding them to be able to make it over to them. Even with the help of the ghosts, there’s no hope of breaking free.

“What’s taking Sam and Tucker so long?!” Val asks over the sounds of the fight. A wolf goes for her and she blasts it back.

“We don’t know what happened to Danny, maybe it’s worse than we thought.”

The girls don’t have any time to think much about the possibility. They duck as Ember blasts another wave of monsters headed their way, but it doesn’t do much. Another wave fills the space, and the girls wonder if they’ll ever be able to make it out.

“Can’t the two of you get on that board and help us out from up here?” Kitty asks them.

“The damn thing’s broken—the witch’s magic damaged it!”

“Then get your monster-hunting parents!”

“Their RV crashed! It’s getting overtaken by monsters as we speak!” Jazz protests.

Ember looks over at the fence and grits her teeth.

“The _one_ time we actually need them and the ghost boy, and they’re all out of commission! Great!”

“Johnny! Take the two of them over to the RV!” Kitty calls to him.

“You got it, babe!”

Johnny rides over to where Jazz and Valerie are, slowing down enough so the two girls can climb onto the bike. Then they ride off.

“Shadow, ward the monsters off, will ya?”

The shadowy figure emerges from under Johnny’s bike, a grim smile on its face as it speeds ahead of the group. Although it doesn’t do much against the horde of monsters in front of them, it creates some space for them to drive through.

“Hang on tight, ladies!”

Jazz and Val glance at each other and hold onto the bike. They manage to squeeze through, and once they do Valerie aims her blaster at the RV. She’s about to fire a blast at the monsters, but someone else beats her to it.

“Stay away from my parents, you freaks!”

Jazz looks into the sky, and grins as she sees Danny flying down to the RV.

“Danny!”

Johnny stops the bike when they get over to the crash and the girls get off. The ghost then rides back over to the main fight.

Danny lands on the RV and sets Sam and Tucker down. He doesn’t notice Jazz until she climbs up beside him and pulls him into a hug.

“You’re okay!”

Danny smiles and takes a second to hug back before pulling away.

“You have Sam to thank for that—”

“Guys, I hate to break up this nice moment, but shouldn’t we flip the RV over?” Sam asks them.

The siblings nod, and after minutes the teenagers have the RV right-side up. Danny has to turn his attention to the monsters and joins Valerie in blasting them away. Jazz, Tucker, and Sam open the doors and notice the parents beginning to stir.

“Mom, dad! Can you hear me?”

“Jazz…?” Maddie mumbles. Her eyes twitch, and then they flutter open.

“She’s awake!”

The noise seems to bother Jack, his head turning to the side.

“He’s waking up too,” Jazz says to no one in particular. She opens the side door and climbs into the RV. “I’m gonna stay here and patch them up, but I’m gonna need some help!”

“I’ll stay with you. Tucker, take this!” Valerie hands her blaster to the boy and doesn’t hesitate to climb into the vehicle.

“Activate the shield!” Danny calls to Jazz.

“I’m going to, genius!”

A second later, the shield appears around the RV.

“Hey ghost boy! Are you gonna help us fight these freaks or what?” Ember yells.

Danny looks over and sees the ghosts from the ghost zone, fighting against the monster army. He’s confused at first and doesn’t answer.

“ _You’re_ fighting off the monsters too?”

“Oh, yeah, guess we should’ve mentioned that,” Sam starts. “They like coming to the human world—”

“—or taking it over—” Tucker interrupts.

“—so they don’t want monsters taking it over.”

“That’s right, now would you three help us already?!” Spectra asks as she turns to blast some monsters away from the teenagers. “In case you haven’t noticed, we need all the help we can get!”

“Right!”

Danny flies into the air and hovers above the courtyard. For a second he takes in the view and is almost in awe of the sight. The army of monsters resembles that of an ocean, wave after wave attacking. Then he shakes his head and gets to fighting.

Danny delivers blast after blast in tandem with the rest of the ghosts, but the progress they make doesn’t last. When they defeat some monsters, even more take their place.

_Man, they’re like that monster from greek mythology._

After another few blasts, Danny gets an idea and is shocked he didn’t think of it sooner. In his next move, he freezes a portion of the army to where they’re standing. It makes it easier for the others, being able to defeat the monsters much easier.

“When were you planning on unleashing that power?” Kitty asks sarcastically.

“Oh, shut up! I only got cured a few minutes ago!”

Without another word, Danny flies around the courtyard, freezing the monsters underneath him. The others take care of blasting the monsters into oblivion.

The tide of battle is turning to the ghosts’ favor.

It doesn’t take long for the army’s numbers to start dwindling, and the ghosts start advancing. Danny lands near Sam and Tucker, and the three of them pause to look around at the battle.

“You know, it really helps having you on our side again,” Tucker says.

“I can tell. It’s good to be back.”

Then the three of them are surprised by Danny’s parents.

“Son, you’re okay!”

Jack and Maddie pulled Danny into a tight hug. She presses a kiss to his head, and Danny pulls back to wipe the lipstick off of his face.

“Mom!”

“Hey, you were turned into a vampire and turned evil! A kiss from your mom won’t hurt!”

Jack ruffles Danny’s hair, but Jazz calls out to them before they can have a moment.

“Mom, dad! There’s been monster sightings all over the city! The backup RV’s almost here!”

Jack and Maddie look over at the RV, and Maddie bites her bottom lip. They just got reunited with their sun, and now they have to leave again.

“It’s okay, I think we’ve got things handled here. Go save Amity Park.”

Jack and Maddie smile at Danny, and Maddie presses another kiss to his head.

“We’re proud of you, son,” Jack tells him.

“I know, dad.”

Then the parents rush to climb into the backup RV, and they drive off with Jazz and Valerie.

“Looks like we’re gonna win this fight after all,” Sam comments. It brings Danny back to earth and he turns to look at the almost empty courtyard.

“And to think, I started off the day on _their_ side.”

Sam smiles and takes his hand in hers. She opens her mouth to speak, but a rumbling cuts her off and gathers the attention of everyone.

“What’s that?”

Sam doesn’t have to wait for an answer. Moments later, the shadowy figure of the Monster King emerges from the castle and the air feels heavy and toxic. Everyone, even the ghosts, find it difficult to breathe, and none of them can look at the king for too long. A sinking feeling bubbles up in Danny’s stomach.

“What is _that_!?” Tucker asks.

“Well, uh, that’s the monster king.”

“The _what_?!”

“Monster king,” Sam repeats, but in a tone that implies she doesn’t quite believe it herself.

“How do you plan on defeating him?” Ember asks.

Danny doesn’t answer, and looks down at his hands. He could freeze the king, but that would take a lot of his energy. Could he do it and make it out alive?

“Ghost boy!”

The booming voice of the king shakes the ground and can be felt in the bones—well, for those that _have_ bones.

“Man, he’s gotta be real angry I helped to defeat his army.”

“So how do we defeat him? Shouldn’t you know this?”

Danny shoots Bertran a look and clenches his fists. He knows there’s only one way to end his reign.

“Just leave it to me, alright?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer as he flies towards the king. The creature lashes out at him, but he dodges and blasts his appendages. The king seems to understand that he won’t land a hit on Danny, and instead aims for Tucker and Sam. The two are saved by Ember, as she grabs them and goes intangible. The wave of darkness passes through them and the ghost pulls them out of reach.

A feeling of panic courses through Danny’s body, as he can’t see Tucker and Sam, but it’s soon replaced with anger and a newfound energy. The clearing lightens and he turns back to the creature, blasting him with ice.

The king notices, and tries to fight it. To no avail; Danny puts all the energy he has into the blasts, and the ice is beginning to encase the creature. The ghosts watch on with amazement, having not seen this power of his before.

Danny doesn’t stop until the king is fully frozen in ice. For everyone else, it’s intimidating to see. The air is still tinged and feels heavy with his presence, and Danny’s sick of it. He blasts the creature and watches as it breaks into millions of pieces.

Silence falls over the clearing. Even Danny doesn’t know if the day is saved. He waits for something to happen, for the king to resurrect, but he doesn’t, and he allows himself to fall to the ground. The amount of energy he spent is starting to catch up with him.

Sam runs over to him and holds him as he transforms back to Danny Fenton. He manages to open his eyes and is surprised to see her.

“Sam…?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“But—how….”

“Ember pulled me and Tucker out of the way, but we can talk about this later. Tucker’s gonna take care of the ghosts here, so let’s just focus on getting you home, alright?”

Danny nods in agreement, then shuts his eyes as he falls unconscious.


	27. Chapter 27

The sun shines through the windows of the classroom, and for once, Sam doesn’t care. Her seat is right in the sun but the warmth of it relaxes her and she lets herself close her eyes. Lancer doesn’t seem to care anyway—it’s the last day of school.

Sam opens her eyes as she feels Danny’s hand slip into hers and smiles. He returns it, and although Lancer notices them, he doesn’t bring attention to it.

The bell rings, the class lets out, and Sam and Danny split just to head to their lockers. Sam’s surprised to see Valerie waiting for her there.

“Hey, Sam.”

“Hey,” she greets as she opens her locker, then grabs her bag and slings it over her shoulder.

“It’s nice to have Danny back, huh?”

Sam nods.

“Yeah, it really is.”

She shuts her locker and leans against it. There’s a moment of silence between them until Valerie breaks it.

“I know things aren’t... _great_ between us, probably because of when Danny and I went out—”

“Hey, look, I’m sorry about—”

“No, no, you don’t need to—look, that’s in the past, you don’t need to apologize. But anyway, I know we’re not really friends, but I was thinking that we could be, if we put in the effort.”

Sam doesn’t expect her to say that. Sure, they’d hung out plenty of times, but Val’s right; they weren’t friends then. Things weren’t so weird between them now, and yet they still couldn’t say that they’re friends.

“Are you saying that you want us to be friends?” Sam asks her.

Valerie nods.

“I mean, if you don’t feel like we can be friends, I—”

“Sure.”

That throws Valerie off; it’s clear to see in her face as her eyes widen.

“Huh?”

“Sure. I think we can be friends, and I’m willing to make that effort.”

Val nods, then a smile crosses her face.

“Great, um, I’m kinda busy this weekend, so meet up at Nasty Burger next week?”

“Sounds great. I’ll see you then.”

Valerie and Sam wave at each other as they head off in different directions. Danny and Tucker catch up to Sam in the hallway and Danny once again takes her hand. She smiles and interlocks their fingers. They walk through the front doors of the school and start heading towards Nasty Burger.

“Do you guys have any summer plans?” Tucker asks them.

“Not really. Gotta have an open schedule, you know, defending the city from ghosts and monsters and all.”

Tucker nods.

“We’ll never have a normal summer, huh?”

“Afraid not.”

“Eh, who wants a normal summer anyway?” Sam waves her free hand nonchalantly. “Besides, normal’s never really worked for us.”

The air is filled with the casual chatter until they arrive at the restaurant and get seated. Even as they’re served their food, the conversation is focused on the more mundane aspects of their lives. Despite normal not suiting them, the afternoon certainly feels like normal.

After a couple hours, Tucker stands.

“Alright, love birds, I’ve gotta head home.”

“Hey, Tuck wait—” Danny stops him. “I just want to say...thank you, both of you, for not giving up on me when you found out that I’d gotten turned into a vampire.”

Tucker and Sam glance at one another.

“Of course, Danny. I mean, you’re my best friend and the love of Sam’s life—”

“ _Tucker_!” She protests, but both of the boys ignore it.

“—why would we give up on you?”

“Well, I don’t know, I thought—I know it couldn’t have been easy to deal with.”

“Danny, it wasn’t easy to deal with you when you became half-ghost, but we never gave up on you then. The vampire thing was the same, for the most part.”

Tucker shoots a smile at Danny, and the dark-haired boy smiles back and watches as his best friend leaves.

It isn’t long after that the couple finishes up and leaves the restaurant too. Danny takes them across town, to the hill where they sat when he gave her the class ring she still wears on her finger. They sit there, admiring the sky as the sun sets, and Sam hardly notices Danny staring at her. She’s only pulled out of her thoughts when he kisses her cheek, and her cheeks heat up as a smile forms on her face.

“What was that for?”

“No reason, I just wanted to.”

Sam rolls her eyes, but the smile on her face doesn’t disappear.

“You’re so cheesy.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he teases.

They sit there for a few more minutes before Danny breaks the silence.

“Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really happy that I met you. You’re outspoken, and passionate, and determined, and you’ve changed my life in the best way possible.”

Sam can’t come up with any words to say to him; Danny has such a way with her where he can move her to tears and leave her speechless, and she’d be lying if she said that she hated it.

“And I know that we’re still only in high school, but frankly, after all we’ve been through, I know you’re who I want to spend my life with.”

Neither of them say anything as Danny moves his hands to cup her cheeks, the space between them disappearing as their lips connect in a kiss. This one, though, feels different than all the other ones before it. Something stirs in Sam’s chest as butterflies fill her stomach, and she can tell that he’s really serious about what he said.

They pull away, both breathless, their cheeks tinted pink. Sam rests her head on Danny’s shoulder as he wraps his arm around her waist and a smile crosses her face.

“I love you, Danny.”

“I love you too, Sam.”

The two teenagers stay under the darkening sky, both hopelessly in love with one another. From an outsider’s perspective, the scene looks perfect.

And it is.


End file.
